Swansea 2-1 Manchester United August 2015

Attacking start to the game with dangerous Memphis free kick in the first minute. United dominating play from the beginning. Minute later Mata blasts over from outside the box. Manchester playing like a home game, dominating possession and looking comfortable. Looks like Smalling is taking over handling Gomis. Clearly Blind would be no match.

 

The through ball from Shaw to find Rooney might have been put in the back of the net from the Rooney of yester.. wonder what would have happened had it been RvP at the end of that!!

 

Mata’s striking has been poor this season, he gets at least 2-3 goal scoring opportunities every game, yet to convert as one more chance goes begging. Despite being closed down, his class means, he should be at least working the keeper.

 

Shaw and Darmian continue to impress, solid in defending.

 

Smallings conceded free kick gave Shelvey an opportunity to find Gomis who with a lovely turn put the ball into Sigurdssons path only for him to curl it just wide. Seconds later a nervy clearancy by Romero, but fortunately Shelvey found the keeper. The movement of Gomis with ball at feet is brilliant as Swansea enjoy the best spell of the game after 25 min but the Swans keep inching closer this time Gomis finding the upright.

 

Another overhead falls for wazza but he pokes it high. The need for a solid CB and CF screeching loud!

 

One on one once again and Wazza.. totally out of color.

 

Its amazing how this game remains 0-0 at HT but there will be goals for sure at FT!

 

A brilliant drive by Shaw early in the half finds Mata in the far post to smash it to the roof of the net with his weaker foot!

 

Missed both the fucking goals conceded in the second half thanks to a tiff at the hotel with some people wanting to watch Roma Juve.

 

But our efforts to come from behind were left wanting as the need to have a solid CB and a CF couldn’t be emphasized any more.

Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Spurs 2015-16

The first game of the season, the early kick off, the money has been thrown in, I was eager just for the ball to start kicking yet again.

 

Solid start to the game with the first quarter totally in Tottenham’s hands. They had the tempo, looked more slick in possession and united looked a bit dead for pace. Fortuitously Eriksen’s half volley off a wonderfully crafted over the top pass from Kane found its way just over the crossbar. However, an erroneous pass from Bentaleb in the midfield triggered a wonderful three pass break. Unfortunate for Walker who made an effort to clip the ball off the feet of  Wazza before he could pull the trigger, the ball painfully trickled past an outstretched arm of Vorm into the bottom corner.

Using the momentum, United made few more searching forward surges, then the first half slowly petered out.  The stand out player in the first half was Darmian as he looked comfortable on both feet, confident one on one and with good pace to keep the players interested. Romero’s distrubution has been nervy but his shot stopping was unnerving. Schneiderlin’s tackles and strength has been impressive. Not a lot gets through him.

 

The second half resumed in the same tempo, with both teams playing compact football with short passes. Darmian yet again was live in the box as Spurs threaten off a break from their third of the pitch. Michael carrick made way for Bastian to pair up in midfield with Schneidelin.  Memphis and Wayne are yet to form a formidable link up, Romero has improved his movement and is early to the ball and decisive especially from crosses.

 

Memphis made way for Herrera. For his debut, playing behind Wayne, he didn’t really get his game going. Herrera added speed to the midfield while Bastian’s fiest earned him a yellow card. Rooney had the opportunity for an overhead spectacular as Darmian stormed down the right wing to cross, but he didn’t connect. The dead ball opportunity fell for Wayne again when Young got clipped outside the box but he flew it too high. Think he needs to be more prepared if he is to be aiming for a 25+ season.

 

Darmian got to leave ten minutes before the end of the game to a well deserved applause, the best player in the red shirt today. Valencia got caught out twice as he replaced Darmian and clearly it offered Romero to show his ball stopping ability. Smalling has impressed in his new role in the team and apart from a misunderstanding with Romero, which he himself recovered.

Romero does really well in the end to scramble one out of the danger area and to stop a really powerful low strung shot. Manchester united looked nervy in the last few minutes of official time.

 

Overall, despite the quality of performance, more importantly its the three points.

My overall verdict on the players performance today:

Romero 8.0

Shaw 7.0

Blind 7.0

Smalling 7.5

Damian 8.5

Young 7.5

Schneiderlin 7.5

Carrick 7.0

Mata 7.0

Memphis 6.5

Rooney 7.0

From 0-3 to 2-3

the infamous Poznan

This was a big game for Manchester United. 2 back to back losses in the premier league, last encounter with the blue half of the city – embarrassing. Scores had to be settled and United players made it clear. They wanted only one thing – REVENGE.

PREMATCH HOO HAA

Manchester United:  Lindegaard; Smalling, Jones, Ferdinand, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Nani; Welbeck, Rooney (Subs:  De Gea, Evans, Rafael, Scholes, Anderson, Hernandez, Park)

Manchester City: Pantilimon, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, A. Johnson, de Jong, Milner, Silva, Nasri, Aguero (Subs: Hart, Clichy, Zabaleta, Savic, Hargreaves, Razak, Suarez)

Manchester United line up read good for a premier league fixture. City charted the best available for the day. But neither was the buzz of the eve.. Paul Scholes returning from retirement! Who ‘d have imagined but yet again, it puts things in perspective – United look desperate recalling a player from retirement to fill the void that he himself created. No funds to get a worthy playmaker? Hmmm.. bothersome indeed.

Quietly on the other side of the bench list was someone else returning – Hargreaves; no comments on that.

First 45′

United seemed to shape into a 4-4-1-1 / 4-5-1 formation with Welbeck leading the line and Rooney opting to help the midfield pairing of Giggs and Carrick. City went in with the usual formation, though with Barry suspended, Toure away, Milner shared centre midfield with De Jong while Silva and Johnson moved the flanks. Nasri accompanied Aguero up front.

City started brighter playing good possession but were taken aback when United broke at 10′ with Rooney releasing Valencia on the wing. Valencia crossed early to find a dashing in Rooney who found the far corner with the cross bar’s assist. Moments later, Kompany found himself in a pickle when United were trying to break. A two footed scissor move on a 50-50 ball saw Nani take evasive action, however Chris Foy deemed it dangerous and sent him off.

Clearly the Turning point  of the game, city down to ten men found it harder and harder to find Aguero or Nasri and every flowing red move seemed to inevitably lead to a goal. One such move involving some Nani’s guile lead to a spectactular swiveling volley goal by Danny who’s been working his socks off. He further went on to draw another foul in the box which ended up in a penalty. Rooney stepped up to convert but had to do it in the second attempt when the keepers save found him again to head it home for his second.

At 3-0 at HT, it seemed it was only a matter of HOW MANY now..

Last 45′

Double substitution at half time saw Mancini bringing in defensive reinforcements. City did not panic. They decided to play the waiting game and play counter attacking football. Richards won a free kick off Evra at the edge of the box in the 2nd min. Kolarov stepped up, sent a curler, the wall remained rooted and for a fraction of a second, so did Lindergaard, and that was good enough for him to find the corner of the united goal and all of a sudden it was game on.

The ginger Pele arrived at 60′; started sorting his radar around, but got caught out from a short pass and Aguero made the most of a Lindergaard fumble and Etihad woke up at 2-3. United rang in a few changes – defensive midfielders ran in to cover.. to protect the lead.

Remainder of the game was all ball possession and two controversial penalty decisions at either end of the ground, neither given.

QUESTIONS

• Ferdinand – I havent seem him play at his best in a long long time. Short of pace, seems to struggle one on one and some of his passing was criminal
• Jones – wonder if he is carrying an injury, his passes seem speculative, apart from one decent run and a couple of good crosses, he is far from how he started the season
• Lindergaard – Fumble, save, fumble, save. Not exactly a fancy pattern

My Pick of The Game

Danny Welbeck  – works his socks off, creates chances, forms a lovely partnership with Rooney and today the best player for his work for the 65 odd min he was on. 

Manchester United 3 – 1 Chelsea

 

I I’d opted for a quiet weekend this time around. No getting out to chill out in the weekend after a long week at work.. jus sit back in the room, laze, order in some good food, listen to music, watch some football and get plenty of sleep. Well, I couldn’t have imagined that the weekend would turn out this good!

It was as if the London mauling of Kenny’s troops wasn’t enough, the standard of football played by Spurs took it right back to last season whilst Spurs played some blazing eye candy football.. yes.. more sumptuous than Arsenal. The buildup to this fixture was anxious.. especially since even the reputation tarnished Torres had a good going when it comes to United.

Rio did not get cleared for the game, and had to satisfy himself to watching some breathtaking end to end football from the stands with his son.

United started pretty and were off the blocks early when a marginally offside Chris Smalling nicked a goal off a trademark Young cross.  Moments later Chelsea was at the other end with Torres dragging the ball wide of the far post.

David De Gea was no doubt the busiest of both the keepers the first 45, but the irony was how chelsea kept squandering umpteen piece of cake opportunities.

A darting run from Nani to the edge of the box with 3 defenders standing him off, the outcome was a ferocious right footed swerving bullet into the far top corner of Cech’s goal. The ball was past Cech before even he could move his feet towards the direction of the ball. This goal was of such high quality that it surpassed Modric’s earlier curling scorcher from a similar distance.

Phil Jones has made a reputation for his darting runs into the box.. and he led to all the Blues confusion with a fortuitous deflection off Nani falling kind for Rooney’s 9th goal – a tap in.

At HT, Chelsea was in tatters, and it was time for Boas to show what he is made of. Anelka swapped in for Lamps, and it took him only 30s to unleash Torres to form, who with a cheeky flick over De Gea brought life immediately into the game 3-1.

The number of misses that followed in the next 45 min does no justice to the scoreline. End to end football with some ridiculuous misses – Nani rapping the cross bar, Rooney missing a penalty after losing his footing, Rooney hitting the upright, Torres MISSING AFTER BEATING DE GEA. The ugly side of the ugly faced Ashley Cole digging his foot late into Hernandez was the only downside of an evenly matched game.. even in the column of missed chances.

The scoreline does no justice to the treat delivered, the exhilaration after a monsterous strike from Nani, or the jaw dropping miss of an open goal by Torres.. but that is why we love this game.. Cheers!

Fluid Football – Loving it!

Woke up to catch a stream of Manchester United taking on Spurs at home towards the end of the first half. The stats and the highlights suggested Spurs were doing a fairly good job in keeping us on our toes. But the second half was a total delight to the eye. The chances created by our forward line with fluid and intricate passing is orgasmic. The defensive line – full of youth and lack of the stalwarts Vida and Rio were fantastic. Jones making a dash into the opposite penalty box starting from his defensive position is something I least expected, such is his soaring confidence. He epitomized confidence for a debut game at OT and is a definite threat to Rio’s position.

Always loved the way Danny played, especially after a remarkable stint on loan last season with Sunderland. His deserved promotion to first team action this season and the confidence SAF has in him was fully justified with another thrilling performance in the second half. His selfless attitude in front of goal and excellent off the ball movement makes him a threat anyday. To add to that he is making it a habit to score off his head! Rooney was getting a bit frustrated towards the end but glad he got a deserved goal.

De Gea has shown some good confidence today but once again his fumble almost lead to a goal. His distribution is very impressive, in fact it started the brilliant second goal of the night.. where ando and danny did a 1-2 to seal off a beauty of a goal.

Plenty of promise for #mufc as youth run riot at OT.  #GGMU