Fuck me, football eh, bloody hell, for the first time in a few years, reds went into the first game with a bit of a spring in our steps, a couple of exciting signings, optimism at the state of things, on the footballing front anyway and then last night's surge back down to earth.
The news that Ferdinand could be out for a month over the weekend, was greeted by me with a bit of a shrug, oh well the defensive injury crisis never ends, but we'll get around it. By 7.45 last night, i'd started to get a little worried, this was a tough fixture and the last thing we needed was for Carrick to have to start at centre half. I don't blame him for the goal, Vidic or Ferdinand himself, may not have got the better of the curly lump who seems to be turning into a nemesis for us. Unlike other reds i don't really rate him as a footballer, but he really seems to have got our number at the moment.
We never really started last night, we suggested a couple of times that we would burst into life at any moment, but it just never happened. I don't think the pre-season will have helped, an international competition and then the olympics, meant the players came back to the club in dribs and drabs. It has been obvious from the couple of friendlies i caught hold of, to see that Rooney was miles of the pace. So i was slightly suprised to see him start last night, i can only surmise that Fergie is going to play him back to fitness. The problem with that is what we saw last night, he just didn't contribute enough, i think it would have been better playing him on the left with Welbeck in the middle.
Another problem was the formation, we haven't really played 4-3-3 since Ronaldo left and it showed last night. We lacked cohesion, not helped by Rooney's lack of fitness, Nani having one of those games and having a midfield who played as if it was the first time they had ever played together, which i'm pretty sure it was. We kept the ball well enough when we had it but never really looked like we were going to damage them.
The one big positive from the night, came from that department though, i'm more convinced than ever, after last night that Kagawa is going to be a massive hit for us. He hit two magnificent through balls in the first half, that unfortunately we couldn't finish off. When the rest of the team get used to his style of play, we'll start to gel and i'm hoping and expecting to see some football more pleasing on the eye than the functional fare we've seen over the last couple of season.
I'm not sure how things will evolve up front, i've never been able to see Valencia in a front three, he's an old fashioned winger at his best in a 4-4-2. Maybe Fergie really is going to presist with him at right back. Van Persie, Rooney and Welbeck can operate all along the front line so they should be able to cope with the system. I'm not convinced about Hernandez though, he was poor last season, his goals not being enough to compensate for his all round game outside the box. He never looks comfortable when he has to drift wide, his crossing isn't the best, to say the least, so i'd say he was the most under pressure.
Evra has been a fading force for a couple of seasons now, and last night didn't offer any sign of an upturn in form. So it was nice to see us sign a left back at last, we've just got hop he turns out to be the real deal, as i don't know much about him. From what i've read Fergie seems to have developed a thing for left backs who are a touch "out of the box". Buttner certainly seems to be a character.
Not a great night then, but it was a tough opener, the divs lost there last year remember. It hasn't dimmed my excitement though, it just seems it's not going to happen all once. I had visions of the kind of start we had in 2006-7, not so much in results, i didn't expect us to win 5-1 at Goodison, more the kind of free flowing football. It would help our cause if we could keep two centre halves fit at any one time. I'm glad we have Fulham at home on Saturday, remember the last time played them with Carrick at centre half.
Miguel Delaney gives his take on United's capture of Robin Van Persie and how Glazernomics affected the outcome. I take all that on board, i'm pretty cynical myself, but i can't help but be excited about the Dutchman's aririval. What i can't really fathom out is why, i didn't really see the point of our pursuit of him when it was first mooted. Maybe it's just getting one over City for the first time in a bit, if so, that's a liitle bit sad to be honest, but there you go.
I saw Gary Neville singing Tom Cleverley's praises before the game last night, you wouldn't believe how much talent he possess he said. Rob Smyth claims the smart money is on Cleverley justifying the hype, i'm a big fan as i've said before, but let's wait for him to get a run of games under his belt this season before we start bigging him up.
I watched the under 21's start their season with a 1-0 victory at Stoke on Saturday morning, and ended up wondering how many of those players will still be at the club come September. It seems that certain players will go straight to the under 21's even though they are still qualified for the under 18's. Januzaj
is one that will play mainly for the under 21's, he looked a bit special against Aberdeen last week. I saw him play last season, but was a little worried that he despite having a sweet left foot he was a bit one paced. But he seems to have grown a bit and seems to have an acceleration that would serve him well enough in the middle of the park.
Another of last years academy intake who took my eye last year Mats Daehli is also to be eased up into the under 21's. We do have some serious talent coming through the ranks, it will be very interesting watching the youngsters this season. Having said that, Saturday's performance was a little disappointing. They started well, playing superbly for the first 20 minutes or so, scoring a cracking goal through Scott Wooton, but then it all just seemed to peter out. The second half was very drab, but United hung on to take all three points.
I should imagine that at least half of that team will go out on loan, Wooton, Tunicliffe and King went out last season, and you'd imagine they will go out again. Youngsters such as Michael keane, Jesse Lingard and Larnel Cole have all spoken of their keeness to test themselves out on loan. It would have been fascinating to see what Fergie would have done with Will Keane, would he have gone out on loan or stayed and trained with the first team. I can't wait to see him return to fitness.
Weird news story of today for me was the news that George Soros now owns almost 2% of Manchester United, i mean why?
The news that Ferdinand could be out for a month over the weekend, was greeted by me with a bit of a shrug, oh well the defensive injury crisis never ends, but we'll get around it. By 7.45 last night, i'd started to get a little worried, this was a tough fixture and the last thing we needed was for Carrick to have to start at centre half. I don't blame him for the goal, Vidic or Ferdinand himself, may not have got the better of the curly lump who seems to be turning into a nemesis for us. Unlike other reds i don't really rate him as a footballer, but he really seems to have got our number at the moment.
We never really started last night, we suggested a couple of times that we would burst into life at any moment, but it just never happened. I don't think the pre-season will have helped, an international competition and then the olympics, meant the players came back to the club in dribs and drabs. It has been obvious from the couple of friendlies i caught hold of, to see that Rooney was miles of the pace. So i was slightly suprised to see him start last night, i can only surmise that Fergie is going to play him back to fitness. The problem with that is what we saw last night, he just didn't contribute enough, i think it would have been better playing him on the left with Welbeck in the middle.
Another problem was the formation, we haven't really played 4-3-3 since Ronaldo left and it showed last night. We lacked cohesion, not helped by Rooney's lack of fitness, Nani having one of those games and having a midfield who played as if it was the first time they had ever played together, which i'm pretty sure it was. We kept the ball well enough when we had it but never really looked like we were going to damage them.
The one big positive from the night, came from that department though, i'm more convinced than ever, after last night that Kagawa is going to be a massive hit for us. He hit two magnificent through balls in the first half, that unfortunately we couldn't finish off. When the rest of the team get used to his style of play, we'll start to gel and i'm hoping and expecting to see some football more pleasing on the eye than the functional fare we've seen over the last couple of season.
I'm not sure how things will evolve up front, i've never been able to see Valencia in a front three, he's an old fashioned winger at his best in a 4-4-2. Maybe Fergie really is going to presist with him at right back. Van Persie, Rooney and Welbeck can operate all along the front line so they should be able to cope with the system. I'm not convinced about Hernandez though, he was poor last season, his goals not being enough to compensate for his all round game outside the box. He never looks comfortable when he has to drift wide, his crossing isn't the best, to say the least, so i'd say he was the most under pressure.
Evra has been a fading force for a couple of seasons now, and last night didn't offer any sign of an upturn in form. So it was nice to see us sign a left back at last, we've just got hop he turns out to be the real deal, as i don't know much about him. From what i've read Fergie seems to have developed a thing for left backs who are a touch "out of the box". Buttner certainly seems to be a character.
Not a great night then, but it was a tough opener, the divs lost there last year remember. It hasn't dimmed my excitement though, it just seems it's not going to happen all once. I had visions of the kind of start we had in 2006-7, not so much in results, i didn't expect us to win 5-1 at Goodison, more the kind of free flowing football. It would help our cause if we could keep two centre halves fit at any one time. I'm glad we have Fulham at home on Saturday, remember the last time played them with Carrick at centre half.
Miguel Delaney gives his take on United's capture of Robin Van Persie and how Glazernomics affected the outcome. I take all that on board, i'm pretty cynical myself, but i can't help but be excited about the Dutchman's aririval. What i can't really fathom out is why, i didn't really see the point of our pursuit of him when it was first mooted. Maybe it's just getting one over City for the first time in a bit, if so, that's a liitle bit sad to be honest, but there you go.
I saw Gary Neville singing Tom Cleverley's praises before the game last night, you wouldn't believe how much talent he possess he said. Rob Smyth claims the smart money is on Cleverley justifying the hype, i'm a big fan as i've said before, but let's wait for him to get a run of games under his belt this season before we start bigging him up.
I watched the under 21's start their season with a 1-0 victory at Stoke on Saturday morning, and ended up wondering how many of those players will still be at the club come September. It seems that certain players will go straight to the under 21's even though they are still qualified for the under 18's. Januzaj
is one that will play mainly for the under 21's, he looked a bit special against Aberdeen last week. I saw him play last season, but was a little worried that he despite having a sweet left foot he was a bit one paced. But he seems to have grown a bit and seems to have an acceleration that would serve him well enough in the middle of the park.
Another of last years academy intake who took my eye last year Mats Daehli is also to be eased up into the under 21's. We do have some serious talent coming through the ranks, it will be very interesting watching the youngsters this season. Having said that, Saturday's performance was a little disappointing. They started well, playing superbly for the first 20 minutes or so, scoring a cracking goal through Scott Wooton, but then it all just seemed to peter out. The second half was very drab, but United hung on to take all three points.
I should imagine that at least half of that team will go out on loan, Wooton, Tunicliffe and King went out last season, and you'd imagine they will go out again. Youngsters such as Michael keane, Jesse Lingard and Larnel Cole have all spoken of their keeness to test themselves out on loan. It would have been fascinating to see what Fergie would have done with Will Keane, would he have gone out on loan or stayed and trained with the first team. I can't wait to see him return to fitness.
Weird news story of today for me was the news that George Soros now owns almost 2% of Manchester United, i mean why?
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