Manchester United clinch title 19...Wayne Rooney shaves his chest hair.

You can put this  under the What the F!@$k file. Manchester United got the draw they needed to secure their record breaking 19th English league title. It will put them one up on bitter rivals Liverpool and will serve to be one of manager Alex Ferguson's greatest achievements.

It'll also be a massive achievement for one Wayne Rooney. Considering how poorly the the last half of 2010 went for him, this is a god send. So what does a footballer who makes £200,000 a week do when he helps his side clinch another domestic title?

Shave his chest hair into the number of titles they club has won of course!

It should be noted that Rooney grew up in Liverpool, and grew up an Everton supporter so he has no love loss for Pool's tumble from the England summit. But this is....well I have no words for this. Make of this what you want, but this is half funny and half plain weird.

Wazza strikes again!

Cheers,

Mike

Moments like these are why I watch!

I haven't posted in a while, but I had to take a moment a provide another reason as to why I love this game. Forget the fact that this moment was provided by my favorite club or that the goal was against a bitter rival. Even remove the fact that I had to work that Saturday and posted an illegal Internet feed of the game on my work T.V's.

Just remember that Wayne Rooney's over head bicycle kick goal to win the Manchester derby was a true moment of sheer class...world class! Let`s face it, United didn`t look as if they were going to take all 3 points. City had gotten a fortuitous equalizer in the 65th minute and were in the ascendancy up until that bit of magic.

Rooney has not played well this season, no one quite knows why other than Rooney, and maybe his Mrs depending on who you believe. Whatever the case maybe he has failed to be as effective as he had been last season. So when he pulled off that audacious goal one had to be quite shocked, but when the wow factor wears off your realize how special he is and remember that he has the gift to pull it off.

These kind of goals and moments in a game make football such a great game. The fact that a game can be completely boring or slow, lacking pace or energy and then....sheer magic! This is why I watch...this is why I get up at ungodly hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch games.
Cheers,
Mike

Derby Day in Manchester

As I sit here on the eve of what could be the biggest Manchester Derby at least in my life time, I find it hard to be objective while writing this post. As I've stated on several occasions I am an unapologetic Manchester United supporter. I want...no wait, expect them to win tomorrow night. However these feelings of needing to beat Manchester City are new to me, it comes from the fact that City have now become a true player in the Premier League. Even the hardest United supporter cannot deny this anymore, maybe little brother has finally grown up?

To understand this you have to understand the history of the Manchester derby. Although heated it's not at the level say of the Merseyside derby (Everton v Liverpool) or the Eternal city derby (Roma v Lazio). Unlike the two rivalries mentioned they has been a massive gulf in class between United and City for a very long time. For stretches of time during the 80's and 90's City were in the 2nd division, now known as the championship. While United were challenging for titles and winning major trophies. In all competitions United lead the the way in terms of wins by a 65 to 42 margin with 49 draws. During this time City would come up with a win here and there but for the most part the match was a write off for United, Big brother kicked little brother, there fore it is hard to build a real rivalry when it's so one sided. Especially in the 90's where United  won every game played between the two.

However the stakes changed in the middle of the last decade when investors were suddenly interested in investing with City and bringing success to the club. While United were in the midst of winning 3 straight league crowns, City were starting to pour money into the club and buy players we never though would ever want to play at Eastlands.

Then came the news that on September 1st 2008 Sheik Mansour, one of the richest men on earth had bought the club and had signed Robinho for a British record fee. This was the first time I become concerned about the Blue threat. Although Robinho didn't turn out to be the world beater people expected it was clear that the gauntlet had been thrown down, especially to United who had for the longest time flashed its own money for top talent. Now with United unable or unwilling to spend on the best players in the market, there is all the reason to think City could take over as the powers not just in Manchester but all of England as well.

When looking at the two potential line ups for tomorrow's game, one could easily see the possibility that United could get hammered by the "noisy neighbours" as Sir Alex called them. I pray that won't happen, but there is a chance. United have a very thin squad in terms of proven talent, the club has a lot of promising young talent in its ranks, like Fabio and Rafael Da Silva, Federico Macheda, Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling etc... but done of them are top flight ready just quite yet. I include Hernandez in there even though he's had an amazing start to his United career, you have to remember he's only 21 and still learning the Premier League. Also factor in the proven players like Nani, Ryan Giggs, Owen Hargreves, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney will not play due to injury and potentially Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov may miss it due to illness and one can see where the issues arise.

Now compare this to City who's only major missing pieces in the recently suspended Mario Balotelli and  potentially Kolo Toure, and the bench is deep enough to replace these players without too much fuss. They will also be boosted by the return of their top scorer and former United player Carlos Tevez. He could be the X factor between United leaving Eastland with points or leaving empty handed.

If last years games are any indication on the how this year will play out, Red Devil supporters have every right to be concerned. Yes United won all 4 match ups last season. However there is a case that City were not only in every game until the end, but might have deserved a better fate than they got last season. This is especially true of the first derby of last season where the game was back and forth and by the 6th minute of 4 minutes of injury time City deserved at least a point....until Michael Owen showed up.

That game was one of the best games of football I've even seen, but it also served as a warning to us United fans. The days of dominating City were now over. So far this season City have proven themselves potential title challengers and have shown that they can break into the big four clubs of England. This puts them for the first time in almost 40 years in direct competition with United for the title, and even though it early in the season United a paying close attention to it's cross town rivals.

So while tomorrow's game will not decide who will win the Premiership, rest assured it will go a long way in either maintaining the order of things or changing the dynamic of this long standing derby.

Cheers,

Mike

Gary Neville: Know when to fold em'

This is probably going to be the most uncomfortable post I've written so far, as most of you know I am an unapologetic Manchester United supporter and have been since I was a kid. I'm 27 now which means I followed the club through the beginning of the Premier League era which means I watched Fergie's golden generation win title after title, cup after cup.

A major part of those title winning teams was a strong back four to cover up for the aggressive attacking style the club played, and a major lynch pin to that back four was right back Gary Neville. During the 1990's and early 2000's Neville was the unquestioned right back not only for United but for England as well. A fiesty and well positioned back he was one of the best at shutting down opposing teams attacks from the wings. He also had a habit of running his mouth about the strength of the club, which made him public enemy #1 with other clubs supporters and made us laugh as United supporters. Outside of the pitch he carried himself with class when it came to representing the values of Manchester United, which to his credit he still does.

However the same can not be said about his play on the pitch.

During the middle part of the last decade Neville could not catch a break with injuries, especially to his knees which is the key joint for a footballer. Gary would be in and out of the squad for almost 4 seasons as his various comebacks would be hampered by other nagging injuries and re-occurrences of the knee tear. As anyone who has a major knee injury will tell you your mobility can never quite get back to what it was no matter who much rehab you put yourself through. Neville was never the fastest right back, but he was quick enough and agile to hang in with some of the best wingers and left midfielders in the world.

As he started to come back from those injuries and begin to play again you started to see little mistakes happen that just didn't occur before. Badly missed tackles, poor positioning, lack of pace etc... Of course no one stays on top forever, but as Sir Alex continued to pick him for matches it became clear that Gary Neville's best days were behind him.

Over the past year this has become glaringly obvious, with Sunday's game being the ultimate tipping point for me. Gary was poor for the entire 45 minutes he was on the pitch at Stoke. Matthew Etherington ate him alive down the wing as he knew he could beat him at anytime. He gave away the ball countless times from the back which lead to chances for the Potters, and although his yellow card was a bad call from the ref he should have been sent off after a shockingly poor tackle on Etherington after he clearly ran by him. To cap it all off he was embarrassed at the beginning of the second half.  It looked like he'd start the half and then he was immediately taken off by Sir Alex for Wes Brown. He has to endure the walk of shame back down to the dressing room, and came back to the pitch in his jeans.

While on the bench Gary cut a figure who might have finally realized his time in the game just might be up, and to be frank I really hope this is the case. I am not questioning his heart or passion for the club, but there's a time in every athlete's career where they must make a tough decision. Can I still put in a worthy performance? Can I still do this without either hurting the club? Or making a fool of myself? These are questions only Gary can ask and answer, but from the looks of it the answers are no across the board. The worst thing as a sports fan is watching a washed up player hanging on to past glory when they know their time has long past.

I do not wish this for Gary Neville. As a greedy fan...and I know I'm acting like one now, I want to see him remembered as one of the great Manchester United defenders of all time. I do not want the lasting memory of Neville be one in which he is being clowned by a Messi, Ozil or Matthew Etherington. At 35 and with 600 club appearances he will have a job with the club for life, at this point he would be of more use to the club by stepping aside as a player, and move into a coaching role. He could focus on helping the young Da Silva brothers become better full backs and Chris Smalling into a better overall defender.

I know Sir Alex stays loyal to his players, especially the Giggs, Scholes, Neville era of players, but even Fergie has to be recognizing that he just doesn't have it anymore. At some point Fergie is going to or has had the talk with Gary, I hope Gary takes this advice at has a serious think at the end of the season...

Because it's time to hang em up.

Cheers,
Mike

Well...I feel used!

So three days of uncertainty, speculation, anger and hurt feelings have led to this...

I can't say I'm not happy that Rooney has changed his mind about leaving United and signing a new 5 year deal, however this last week has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for the player and the business of modern football. The posturing by Wazza and his agent Paul Stretford was clearly a ploy for more money, this had very little to do about ambition or a change of scenery. I don't know how much of this was orchestrated by the player though I believe this was on the advice of Stretford. Whatever the case my be I don't know how much respect Rooney will be able to win back not only with the supporters, but with his own team mates who he called out in his statement as simply not good enough to win anything. Some of his team mates came out saying more or less they were not happy with the star.

I personally have never been a huge fan of Wayne Rooney the man, I respect the skills he has on the pitch but his decision making outside of it is questionable at best. I know that it is hard to judge a man who lives his life in the media fish bowl of English tabloid press, but Sir Alex has made it a point to root out those who live their personal lives in a way that is unacceptable. I really am dying to know what the vets like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville thought of all this.

As for the modern day business of football, I can only show disdain for the way players, owners and governing bodies are sullying the game with money. I'm not saying that a club has no right to spend money on players, but the astronomical amounts being spent are starting to become a bigger issue than the results on the pitch. UFEA's financial fair play rule will be the first small step in curbing this problem, but there has to be a concentrated effort to help bring this runaway train under control.

Cheers,

Mike

Wayne Rooney is leaving Man United...now what?



Guessing on where Rooney is going has gripped the English press

 So I've been off the grid for a while but I'm back and a bit perplexed by some of the events of the past few weeks in the world of Football. From the unexpected purchase of Liverpool by NESV (New England Sports Ventures) owners of baseballs Boston Red Sox, and the subsequent legal battle. To Wayne Rooney's demand to leave Manchester United, there is no shortage of taking points, though for now I'll stick to the ongoing Rooney saga.

Someone today asked me the three most burning questions every Man United supporter (which I am one) Why does he want to leave?  where will he go? and how does this effect United going forward?

The second question is the easiest and most straight forward to answer so I'll start there. In my opinion and as far as I've seen most football pundits agree there are only 4 solid  and maybe 5 clubs in the world that would have the money to buy him and pay his salary demands, which most experts are saying is close to the 200,000 pounds a week level. Those clubs are Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona, the 5th club could be Inter Milan but I'll explain why there are a distance 5th in a moment.

Another contender for goal of the year!

This was from Sunday's match between Manchester United v Liverpool, the score ended up being 3-2 in favor of Man U, but the story of the game aside from the face John O'Shea probably should have been sent off was Dimitar Berbatov. He scored a hat trick of goals and the second one was sheer genius, an excellent over head kick. The video below is a full match highlight, but really enjoy Berba's second goal.



As always I don't know how long the video will stay up for enjoy it while you can!

Cheers,
Mike

A star in the making?

It has been interesting to watch the first few friendlies that United have played in the run up to the start of the Premier League season, especially watching the play of Javier Hernandez since his debut against the MLS all stars two weeks ago. Hernandez joined the club officially in July 1st, although he was actually signed back in May. At the time of his signing the news flew under the radar, as most United supporters had never seen him play at Chivas Guadalajara his old club. From what I saw of him in his highlight reels he looked like a player. However I have to admit I've been very surprised at his ability to grasp the pace of the English league, and especially that of Manchester United.

Current club legend Paul Scholes recently mentioned that Hernandez looks like "an out-and-out goalscorer,'' the Mexican striker has been compared to former United great Ole Gunner Solskjaer. Scholes went on to add in the interview, "People say he's like Ole, and I thought that the first time I saw him in training. We did a finishing session and everything was in the bottom corner. He scores whenever he gets a chance. He comes on and looks lively. He's adapted to the pace of the game already". This among many other attributes maybe the one that defines how big of a star he can become at United.

For example when Cristiano Ronaldo joined United in 2003 it took him almost 3 years to blossom into the talent everyone knew he was. One of the things he always said slowed his development in England was truly learning and dealing with the sheer pace of an EPL game. At least during his first few run outs for the Red Devils "Chicharito", his nick name which means "little pea", looks like he already begun to feel right at home with the speed of the game. Of course whether or not he can keep this up during the regular season remains to be seen, but rest assured he has already convinced the most important person, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Hernandez really peaked the football world's attention at this summer's World Cup, where he score two goals and impressed with his creative play, pace and ability to run the channels and get behind defenders. When it came to his finishing in front of goal was superb. He will be a massive part of Mexico's youth push at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and in all likely hood will be Mexico's number 1 striker.

Again as I said above only time will tell if Chicharito will become a world star, but based on his World Cup and start at United, he's well on his way.

Cheers,
Mike

Tuesday Morning Headlines

Enjoy some footy news and highlights/lowlights with your cup of coffee.

• Finally able to get LEGAL highlights of the 2010 Community Shield game between Manchester United and Chelsea from Sunday, courtesy of F.A TV. Pay particular attention to Javier Hernández's goal and how it goes in (laughed my ass off!) View below.

• Aston Villa Boss Martin O'Neill quits 5 days before the clubs first game of the season against West Ham on Saturday. I personally think he's a great manager and should find work pretty quickly if he chooses. I've linked two different opinions I've read about him today, one good, one not so. I've also linked the full story here.
• Italian club Fiorentina announced that star Stevan Jovetic ruled out for eight months with knee ligament damage and needs surgery. (Too bad, kid looked amazing last year in Champions League)
• Bayern Munich manager Louis Van Gaal has hit out at FIFA boss Sepp Bladder regarding the lack of technology in the game- About damn time!
• BBC writer David Bond (Love his work) explains why Fabio Capello's apology to England fans is just not enough.
• New France manager Laurent Blanc is out to revive the national side after a debacle of a World Cup.
• Blackpool players finally get their bonuses from being promoted to the Premier League
•  Chivas Guadalajara make Libertadores final against the odds
• With International friendlies being played this week, there is a air of change with the player rosters for some of the World Cup teams.

Cheers,
Mike

Why play the Community Shield?

As I was watching the last 10 minutes of a thrilling Community Shield game between Man United and Chelsea, I began to wonder why I was so fixated on a match that was in the words of Mark Lawrenson was a "glorified friendly". Even in recent times Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has down played the significance of the game by saying "It's always a game we never quite use of a do or die thing, we use it as a barometer for fitness".

Watching the first half of the game you might have agreed with him, it seemed that up until the first United goal, both sides were playing to see where they were at in regards to their development for the upcoming season. Through out his entire time on the pitch it looked like Ashley Cole took it as a training match against local amateurs, Now of course this could have been his "Get me outta here, I want to go to Madrid" plea, but I highly doubt it. However it seemed that once Antonio Valencia fired the Red Devils into the lead, everyone competitive nature came out.

Javier Hernández scores in comical fashion to put United up 2-0

This in my opinion is why the F.A  must continue with the Community Shield game, it is the first chance for the top clubs to really get into competitive mode for the upcoming season. I would have imagined at half time the team talk consisted of not losing face to the other side. As you would expect that United and Chelsea will be in the thick of the title race all season long. Although United brought on 3 subs at half time, you don't bring on Javier Hernández, Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs on just because they need the run out. You could also tell that this game meant a little something when Ji Sung Park was in the starting 11 for United as he plays in all important games for the club, so make no mistake Sir Alex's intention was to win. The same could be said of Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti who made no changes to his side at half time and eventually brought in Dider Drogba to help salvage the game late on.

It must be said that in the grand scheme of things the Community Shield as silverware in a clubs trophy case is probably the one they will miss the least, however it is still silverware, and the one weakness of all clubs big or small is it's addiction at silver. Having the winning feeling early in a season helps to build on further success during the regular season, Chelsea can attest to this as winning the shield last year was the start of a record breaking year for them.

Some many find looking into the game like this as foolhardy, however the game can be used as a signal of intent for the rest of the league. In this case United showed that it is ready to make a run at regaining it's English crown and chalking up the very significant milestone of 19 league titles. For Chelsea it shows them that repeating as champions will be a very difficult task as the target is firmly on their backs now. The Blues have done it before this decade, but with a fit United, a re-freshed Arsenal, newly motivated Liverpool and the emerging giant in Manchester City; This will be one of the most intriguing Premier League season in quite some time.

So let the games begin.

Cheers,

Mike N 

A time of endless hope in Europe

As we turn the calender from July to August, we in the football world begin the dream.

August signals the start of the European football season, this weekend we saw the start of the English season as league football began its regular season and the Community Shield was played on Sunday. Also France began it's league play as it's top division got started. The beauty of the start of a new season is the amount of endless hope that is in the minds and hearts of supporters.

The beginning of any football season whether it be Europe or South America, North America or Africa, it's a time in which all teams are even. Now of course there are clear favorites before the first ball is kicked, but the pure essence of hope makes the first round of games some of the most exciting. Supporters can now see the new signing in real competitive action, or see old faces take another run at a title. This time of the year is also the best time to see massive upsets in the league. For example tonight Montpellier fans who must have thought they were dreaming after last season's dream 5th place finish in Ligue 1, and qualifying for Europa League in its first season back up, shocked Bordeaux by beating them in the French league opener 1-0. The other surprises were in England's championship where highly rated Bristol City was pumped 3-0 by new boys Millwall, and promotion favorites Middlesbrough were defeated 3-1 by Roy Keane's Ipswich Town.

Now of course the first game of the season never makes or breaks an entire season as the European game is a slow burn towards the spring, but on opening day all are allowed to dream the impossible dream for many of the supporters. For those who have true title aspirations the start of the season is a time to assess what the club has done or not done in the off season. Most of the time supporters are trying the size up what their immediate rivals have done and how much of a threat they really are.

Manchester United 2010 Community Shield winners

You got this sense while watching the Community Shield today between Manchester United and Chelsea. As both teams have been relatively quiet during the transfer window this summer, you felt that at least in the first half both sides were feeling each other out, and seeing what changes and improvements have been made. Although the game ended 3-1 for United, I don't think United supporters are breaking out the Premier League bubbly yet but it makes them hopeful.

And sometimes that's all you really need.

Cheers,
Mike

Leaked Manchester United 2010-11 Kits

Hello all!

As most of you know I'm a Manchester United supporter, so of course I already have my 2010-2011 kit pre ordered, however I've been able to get my hands on what could be the look of the new shirt for the up coming season. I'm not so hot on the away white shirt, but I'm all thumbs up on the home red shirt.

Enjoy,
Mike