United On Fire

AaB Aalborg 0 Manchester United 3 (Rooney 22, Berbatov 55, 79)

United win away in the Champions League three goals to nil and was a very comfortable win.  With Rooney in spectacular form and Dmitar Berbatov getting his first two goals for United, this win was overshadowed by injuries to Scholes, Rooney and new right back sensation Rafael.

Gary Neville picked up a slight knock and 18 year Brazillian youngster Rafael was preferred to Wes Brown.  Berbatov and Rooney started at the expense of Tevez and John O’Shea was the runner for Paul Scholes in central midfield.  Nani and Ronaldo provided a dual Iberian wing attack.

What was immediately apparent was Rafael Da Silva.  What a confident display from a youngster.  Pace, skill going forward, slightly worrying defensively (with one very rash challenge that lead to a booking).  A great prospect and when he was later replaced by Wes Brown it was immediate to see why Sir Alex had chosen him.

After watching the first 15 minutes, it really did seem to be a case of wondering how many United would score.  Which lead you to immediately wonder if it was going to be one of those 0-0 nightmares when United create and then fail to put away about 123 chances.

Then Paul Scholes got kicked in the knee from a very poor challenge and had to be replaced.  It looks like a serious injury, but did produce some comedy gold when the ITV commentator stated that he was back on his feet “gingerly”.  He was replaced by Ryan Giggs, thus reproducing the central midfield partnership from a few years back of Giggs and O’Shea.  For some reason, they do seem to play well together in the middle of midfield, the left back and the left winger.

A few minutes after coming on Giggs produced a wonder pass that was Scholeseque.  The Aalborg defence was split wide open and Rooney slipped through and slotted the ball perfectly into the corner.

Wayne really was the star player today, running with purpose and working the team from the front.  Unfortunately, he picked up an injury.  Hopefully that wasn’t too serious.  Less impressive was Nani who combined skill with overhit crosses with equal enthusiasm.  Must keep thinking, one for next season, one for next season.  I’d have played Park today.  I was also less than impressed by Ronaldo’s impression of Jonny Wilkinson trying to put a freekick into the net from 40 yards and being lucky to keep it in the ground.

Final mention, must surely go to Dmitar Berbatov.  Started the game as if he really couldn’t be bothered.  Missed a sitter on 6 minutes and didn’t look much like he cared.  Was gifted the ball for his first goal; honestly the Aalborg could not have sat the ball up better if he’d tried.  Dmitar couldn’t really raise a smile.

Then Ronaldo skins his defender and lays the ball back.  It picks up a deflection and bounces into the air.  Berbatov performs an admiral impression of Mark Hughes’s wonder goal for Wales against Spain and volley’s the ball home and sort of smiled and half raised his hand in celebration.  Good job he didn’t get a hattrick; he might have exploded into a grin.

The guy is pure skill, his pass late in the game; outside of the right foot straight into Ronaldo’s path was just fantastic, but he really has to learn the United way.  You have to be more than just skillful.  You have to have passion, determination and purpose.  I do think that Fergie will bring this to his game and make him one of the very best.  That, or we’ve just signed the new Veron.

Popularity: 69% [?]

Uefa Champions League, Group E - Man Utd v Villarreal
Venue: Old Trafford Date: Wednesday, 17 September Kick-off: 1945 BST

Just time for a very short preview today.  United have to bounce back from the defeat to Liverpool on Saturday with a good win against Villarreal in the Champions League.  Last night both Liverpool and Chelsea won, so it is even more important to get a morale boosting win before the game at Stanford Bridge.

Scholes is suspended following the Super Cup, Carrick is out with a broken foot and Berbatov is a doubt with knee trouble (I hope Dimitar isn’t a direct replacement for Louis Saha in the injury department as well).  However, tonight could see the return of Christiano Ronaldo after an operation and a summer of transfer rumoured discontent.  Virrarreal will be without ex-United player Giuseppe Rossi who would have received an excellent reception from the United crowd.

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Liverpool 2 (Brown 27 og, Babel 77) Manchester United 1 (Tevez 2)

Robbie Keane shields the ball from Rio Ferdinand

A combination of good Liverpool pressing and woeful defending meant it was a bad day at the office for Fergie and his United team.

United’s mediocre start to the season continued, and on this showing it won’t start until a certain Portuguese bloke returns to the team.

It didn’t look very bad at after 2 minutes when Dimitar Berbatov’s United career got off to a great start.  Seemingly from nothing, Berbatov was able to get past the Liverpool defence but took the ball too wide for a direct shot.  Instead he pulled the ball back for the oncoming Carlos Tevez who placed the ball expertly into the net.

This shocked Liverpool a bit understandably and it took twenty minutes to get into the match, but when they did, United didn’t have the ability to cope.  Worryingly, it was a mistake in our formidable defence that allowed Liverpool to equalize.  Van der Saar seems to have caught a severe case of the wobbles.  He came for a cross and misjudged the flight of the ball.  He ended up overreaching for it and was only able to palm it away.  Nightmarishly, he palmed it onto the knee of Wes Brown who saw the ball fly back into the net.

United never recovered.  An injury to Carrick saw him and the team limp through to half time, where I had misguided thoughts that we could get back into the game.  However, Liverpool dominated the second half and United didn’t get much of a look in.  About the best chance came to Giggs who had come on for Carrick.  His long range shot was wonderful, but just to central and Reina was able to save it.

The whole United defence was a wobbly and I think that Patrice Evra never recovered properly from a clash of heads in the first half.  He looked dazed and confused immediately afterwards with the referee checking he was alright, and he seemed a bit out of it the whole game.

Liverpool’s winner came from the left, but it was Ryan Giggs at fault not Evra.  He failed to deal with a ball on his own goal line; neither putting it out nor shielding the ball properly.  Mascherano was able to take the ball off him and cross back to Babel who was able to bounce the ball into the net.

United didn’t have time to get an equalizer, but Vidic had time to commit two yellow card offenses and get sent off.  The first could probably have been a straight red as he was more or less the last man.  He’ll now miss the Chelsea game and with our defence in the poor form it is, he’ll be really missed.

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It feels like the season is just starting now.  After a draw at home to Newcastle, then an away win against Portsmouth, United’s season stopped.  First there was a “friendly” in Europe and then there was an international break.

So, it starts again away to Liverpool.  Good place to start, even though Gerrard and Torres have been declared fit.  Incredibly we are seeking our 6th straight win over Liverpool which is a remarkable run against one of the Big Four teams.   However, for as long as I can remember, United have done well over Liverpool.  Even when Liverpool were winning title after title, United managed to raise their game.

It is expected that Berbatov will make his debut tomorrow but I wonder who will make way for him.  Carlos Tevez has played well so far for us this season, and returned early from international duty after a red card for Argentina.  Tevez also scored the winning goal at Anfield last season.

Wayne Rooney was excellent against Croatia when England astonishing stuffed them 4-1 (but then he is usually underrated by the media when playing for England. Of course, Ronaldo is still injured so the temptation is to play all three.  But the Champions League starts midweek and I expect some sort of rotation to occur.  With Berbatov having no Champs League experience, he will probably be a sub on Wednesday.

I’m really looking forward to the match.  It feels like the season really starts tomorrow.  Come on United.  Good luck Berbatov in your first match.

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Looks like Louis Saha is starting his Everton career as he ended his United career; on the treatment bench.  Turns out he will be out for a month with a calf injury.  Makes me wonder what the Everton medical team actually checked when they did the test.

Seems we have a net profit of two new strikers as Manucho got his work permit and we, of course got the main man, Berbatov.  This is exchange for two players who didn’t play much for us last season at all.  Saha was nearly permanently injured, whilst Campbell was on loan at Hull.

The other news is at Mike Phelan has been made assistant manager.  Clearly, this is one assistant who will never be made the actual manager in the future.  I remember little about Phelan as a player, mainly his moustache and the fact that he was the least able of the midfielders Fergie bought at the time (Webb and Ince I remember), so he was a sort of Fletcher to Hargreaves and Scholes.

Finally, I updated the blog to the latest version of Wordpress, so it’s missing lots of the stuff from the sidebar, but I couldn’t edit any of that stuff anyway.

Popularity: 14% [?]