My United, My life.

Title Gone? Probably

2009-11-09T05:50:00.004+08:00

Chelsea 1 - Manchester United 0
Scorer
Chelsea: Terry (76)

Team: Van der Sar, Brown, Evans, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher, Anderson (Owen 85), Carrick, Valencia, Giggs (Obertan 85), Rooney

Let's not kid ourselves if we think we're going to win the Premiership 4 years in a row. 3 was already a dream come true and in this game we've been cruelly exposed. No creativity in midfield is going to be our achilles heel this season. Without the sorry Portugese who fled to Spain at the first calling, we've absolutely nothing to show for against a top-tier opponent.

To be fair to the lads who tried hard but just weren't good enough, Chelsea was absolutely shit as well, but that extra bit of quality showed today.

The only silverlining for me was that I hardly spent much time watching this game. I spent half the time at Kentona's stag party trying to look for some nice eye-candy whilst all the United fans around me were burying their heads in despair when Terry rose to head the ball into the net. It helps to be pissed drunk as well.

Now that I'm semi-sober, it's safe to say, the stag party was a major downer. Not only was there a huge lack of boobage, we lost the game as well. A good result in either would have been the sugar to help the medicine go down.

As it stands, not only are we 5 points adrift of the champions-elect, we're lying below Arsenal on goal difference. Barring a major fuckup in Chelsea's season, I cannot see how under god's blue sky we can compete for the title. January can't come quick enough....oh wait, Chelsea's allowed to spend, scratch that.

Couple of notable notes in this game:

- Evans deserves a knighthood. Attempting to blatantly maim Drogba while getting off completely scot-free is awesome. Super awesome.

- Drogba better be nominated for an Oscar this year for his utterly convincing tribute to Edgurdo. I seriously thought he broke all his ribs, punctured both lungs, only for him to return to the game seconds later.

- Referee ought to be shot for missing Terry's foul on Valencia. It would have given us a penalty, which I have no doubts we would miss.

- Referee ought to be shot over and over again for Fletcher's phantom foul on Cashley Cole which resulted in Terry's goal.

- Ferguson is right to complain about the referee but that trick is getting old. We have no imagination in midfield. He knows it, we know it, Chelsea exploited it.

- Why the fuck is Carrick still playing? He's the modern version of Neil Webb. I'm sick of using the word 'rubbish' on him. It's an insult to the word itself.

- At least Obertan looks like a player. It's still too early to tell but maybe, just maybe, we could have done something right and uncovered a gem.

- Seriously, what's the use of sending Owen on for a lost cause?

United Survives Russian Scare

2009-11-04T05:40:00.003+08:00

Manchester United 3 - CSKA Moscow 3
Scorer
Manchester United: Owen (29), Scholes (84), Shennikov (og 90)
CSKA: Dzagoev (25), Krasic (30), Berezutsky (46)

Red Card
CSKA: Semberas (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Brown, Neville, Fabio (Evra 59), Fletcher, Scholes, Nani (Rooney 58), Valencia, Macheda (Obertan 82), Owen

My word, what a game! This is definitely the most exciting game we've played the entire season. Mine you, we weren't exactly good. For a good period we were quite rubbish at the back, conceeding 3 goals, but we came back strong. We came back really strong at the end.

CSKA took a shock lead in the 25th minute. Dzagoev took the ball down the centre and when the angle looked impossible, smashed the ball into Van der Sar's net. It was a brilliant goal.

United responded strongly via Owen's clinical strike. Despite looking rather blunt on a couple of previous attempts prior, his strike on this one was spot on and a nice turn around strike into the back of the net.

While we were still patting ourselves on the back, CSKA sucker punched us. Krasic took on our sleeping defense, fell, found his footing again, spun and hammered the ball into the goal, with our entire defense in sixes and sevens.

We went into the half trailing. I took the half time break to relieve myself and came out with the shock that we were trailing even further.

Fergie took a couple of quickfire substitutions, replacing Fabio and the ineffective Nani with Rooney and Evra. Our formation changed drastically with only Brown and Evans at the back and everyone else pressed forward.

We looked abit flat for a short period, coming to terms with the new formation. In that time, CSKA could have gone further ahead.

Slowly but surely we found our mojo and started to find kinks in the CSKA defense. After a couple of ridiculous near misses, a barrage of fine saves and a smashing header into the post, Scholes pulled one back with 5 minutes left on the clock.

Old Trafford suddenly sprung to life. The crowd which had been stunned to silence for a large period of the game, found their voice and it carried onto the pitch. There was a new spring in the steps and we looked increasingly dangerous with each passing minute.

It wasn't a surprise that we did indeed find the equalizer when Valencia's powerful shot was deflected into the goal by Shennikov. The lads pressed on for the winner into the 6 minutes of injury time, but that was perhaps too much to ask on what is already a memorable night.

This was a hardfought draw and at times we were our own worst enemy. But take nothing away from the army men from Russia. They played really well at times and barring a shaky looking defense are a really good team in Europe.

The lads should have their tails up for the weekend's mega super important game against Chelsea. They are the front runners for the league title and rightly so. They have an incredible team this season that doesn't look to have any weaknesses. Hopefully we can exploit any chinks in that formidable armour and show the way for everyone else.

But if I'm really honest, I'm not holding my hopes too high. Probably explains why I'm off to Kentona's stag party at the weekend instead of watching the game. If the venue does show the game, it's an added bonus.

My Helloween Nightmare

2009-11-02T22:50:00.002+08:00

Manchester United 2 - Blackburn 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (55), Rooney (87)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Brown, O'Shea, Carrick, Anderson, Nani (Obertan 64), Valencia, Berbatov (Owen 79), Rooney

Talk about being screwed by daylights saving. Time was pushed back one hour and together with a late kickoff made watching this game really difficult on many levels. It was shown at 1.30am over here and cumulated with an exceedingly dull first half, conspired to put me to sleep before the half time whistle even blew.

I had initially thought that I could torrent the second half and at least put some perspective and respectability to this review. I resisted the urge to read any reports or even talk football with my friends over the weekend so as not to spoil my enjoyment. But the torrent never came thru. I ended up getting to watch only the highlights and two exquisite goals by Berbatov and Rooney to sew up the 3 points for us.

There's really not much to add, except we started from where we left off last week against Pool. Piss poor and with a huge lack of urgency in our play. It got better towards the end of the first but by that time I was already dozing off.

United Progress

2009-10-28T05:38:00.002+08:00

Barnsley 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Welbeck (6), Owen (59)

Red Card
Manchester United: Neville (63)

Team: Foster, Brown, Neville, Evans, Rafael, Fabio, Anderson, Welbeck (Tosic 53), Obertan, Macheda, Owen (De Laet 65)

What a refreshing change from the weekend game. The youngsters who played today did themselves proud compared to the group at Anfield. Debutant, Obertan, seems like a good enough player. He's quick, neat and tidy. He certainly looks good enough for Le Championnat, and I'm surprised he's not been featured much there. Nevertheless, he still has some ways to go before breaking into the first team with us. Especially since his direct rival on the right flank is Valencia.

The other young ones didn't look too bad either. We all know Macheda's exploits last season, but he really looks like one who will progress the most. He's big, strong, quick and exceptionally skillful. Most importantly, he's an intelligent player. He looks like one of those typical Italian strikers who can hold the ball, take on his man and make the smart pass or layoff to a teammate. Based on his game today, I think he's ready to step up to the first team on a regular basis. Our regulars upfront look stale and it's time to let some of our youngsters have a go.

Our porn brothers, Rafael and Fabio, are getting there too. The only problem is that they seem to play at one pace. Similar to Tosic. There are times during the game where I was literally screaming at them to slow it down, look for a teammate instead of charging towards the opponent half at full throttle. A case of more haste less speed with them.

Welbeck's progress is coming along too. He's a tad bit selfish at times, but he's showing good instincts going forward and picking out teammates. He scored an early goal from a corner to put us in the lead.

Owen scored our second with a sweet run after Anderson stole the ball from a Barnsley throw-in. Then Neville got himself sent off with a dangerous challenge. Although he clearly won the ball, his follow thru was high and extremely dangerous. Had the opponent stuck out his foot, it probably would have snapped just below the knee.

We spent a large portion of the remaining 20 or so minutes watching Barnsley waste chance after chance. Foster had a couple of nervous moments at goal, and some of his decisions were questionable at best. If there was one thing he showed in today's game, it was that he's slowly working his way out of our future plans.

All in all, it was a credible result against a team with a giant-killing reputation. Our youngsters did really well and some of them really look good enough to step up to the first team if only the manager gives them a chance. I'm slightly curious about Gibson. I thought today would have been a good opportunity to have him in the game. With our dire situation in midfield we could have given him an ample chance to prove himself. It's not as if Scholes is going to get any younger or Carrick any better. I can only guess that he's injured.

It's All About Keeping Rafa's Job Alive

2009-10-26T00:10:00.003+08:00

Liverpool 2 - Manchester United 0
Scorers
Liverpool: Torres (65), N'Gog (90)

Red Card
Manchester United: Vidic (89)
Liverpool: Mascherano (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Evra, O'Shea, Carrick, Scholes (Nani 74), Giggs, Valencia, Berbatov (Owen 74), Rooney

Let's get this straight, I hate losing to Liverpool. I utterly hate it. Today, the priority is different. It's about keeping the most incompetent manager at his job. It's about keeping the man who most single-handedly keeps Liverpool the 2nd banana, or for most years, the 3rd banana. However hard I may hate losing to the dreaded enemy, keeping that man in employment supercedes it.

Now with that clarification out of the way, we were pretty poor today. Liverpool played like their lives depended on it, and we obliged by giving them a lifeline. They were out of the blocks faster and were hungrier everywhere on the pitch. Had it not been for some fine goalkeeping by Van der Sar, we could very well have been buried at the half.

The second half didn't make matters any easier. A lapse in concentration allowed allowed Torres the time and space to outrun Rio and smash a stunner into Van der Sar's near side. One up to the enemy.

We tried to chase the game but Liverpool hurried and chased us all around the park, making the game extremely difficult to control. Even after replacing the ineffective Scholes and Berbatov did little to improve our chances.

As the game came to a close, both teams were reduced to 10 men in quick succession. First with a crude foul by Vidic on a runaway Kuyt, and subsequently Mascherano on another crude foul on Van der Sar.

We pushed so many men forward that we were caught out by a counter, resulting in N'Gog's break away goal in the dying seconds.

Make no bones about it, even though keeping Benitez employed is a good thing, we were utterly crap. We were out-hustled in every department. We didn't lose this game on skill, but were competely and truely outworked by a team who had everything to lose.

Hope the lads take something from this loss. There are no easy games in the EPL and unless they fight hard for the full 90 minutes, getting outworked like today could be a common occurance. Already we have come close to losing points against teams like Bolton last week and have been outworked by the likes of Burnley and Sunderland.

Valencia's Strike Sees United Thru To Second Round

2009-10-22T02:22:00.003+08:00

CSKA Moscow 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Valencia (85)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio (Brown 57), Vidic, Fabio (Carrick 88), Neville, Scholes (Owen 70), Anderson, O'Shea, Nani, Valencia, Bervatov

Let's see if I can do this before the Real Madrid vs Milan game starts. I really would love to catch that game. Should be an exciting one compared to this almost bore draw.

We were missing 3 of our best players in the form of Giggs, Rooney and Fletcher. There were other absentees, but none more important than the 3 who have carried this team on their collective shoulders the entire season so far. With our big 3 missing, I wasn't really expecting much from the game. A draw would have been a great result, putting us into a really strong position in the group tables to advance.

Instead, we went one better. We got an unlikely away victory when Valencia smashed Berbatov's header into the net as the game was going towards a goalless draw.

We weren't doing too bad in the game. The artificial pitch caused havoc in the beginning half of the game, resulting in a comedy of errors from both sides misjudging the bounce. But fortunately for both teams, none of the bounces proved catastrophic.

The game itself was mostly going our way. The Russians seemed to have settled for a draw right from the start. They allowed us to have it our way as long as we didn't score. On our part, we duely obliged by holding on to alot of the possession and making absolutely nothing of it.

Nani and Fabio in particular saw loads of the ball on the left. Their industry and hard running should have produced much better results but the final ball was severely lacking in quality. Valencia had choice moments in the game, but suffered the same end product.

It reached a stage in the game (somewhere in the middle of the first half), Berbatov simply stopping running. Everytime the other 3 had the ball, he just stood in the box with his hand raised in disgust at the cross. He stopped chasing and ball that was passed 2 yards away from him. Personally it was just horrible to watch.

I think we can all admit that Berbatov is a really skilful player, somewhat temperamental at times, but a good player nonetheless. Today, he was just an asshole. He was mouthing off everytime the ball did not get to him. The problem with his attitude today is that it rubs off on players like Nani, Fabio and Valencia. More so Nani, since he comes across as a player that plays on the confidence of his teammates. As the game wore on, all 3 of their passing just got worse. And Berbatov got moodier. And the whole vicious cycle continued.

And what really irks me today is that we won. Now we can sweep all that under the carpet and pretend nothing's happened. Every thing's honky dory.

I honestly hope today's attitude is a one-off thingy although I think it's going to rare it's ugly head somewhere down the season. In the meantime, we can look forward to Sunday's big game against the team we all hate, Liverpool. Let's beat them, kick them while they're down and settle their pathetic season once and for all. The peace and quiet from all my pool loving friends for the next 10 months would be sweet music to my ears.

United Somehow Reclaims Top Spot

2009-10-18T16:34:00.002+08:00

Manchester United 2 - Bolton 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Knight (5 og), Valencia (33)
Bolton: Taylor (75)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Rio, Evra (O'Shea 84), Neville, Anderson (Scholes 86), Carrick, Valencia, Giggs, Berbatov, Owen (Welbeck 84)

With other results in the league going our way, I should be a happy camper, but after watching us dominated for 75 minutes, then go thru a total collapse makes you take things into perspective. Mentally, we're just not there yet. For a good last 15 minutes or so, you might even be forgiven if you think that team was afraid of taking the top spot after Chelsea's loss earlier.

It started really well for us. Owen's wayward header was deflected into the net for an early lead. We could even have gone up by more seconds later but Evans header was pushed onto the post. Bolton were in a mess, and it seems like we were going to give them another hiding at Old Trafford.

We were horribly wasteful and coupled with Jaaskelainen's superb saves, kept the scoreline respectable. Valencia did double our lead at the half hour after a superb counter attacking play involving Gary Neville.

We entered the half with a healthy two goal cushion and feeling really good about ourselves. We were on top of our game and Bolton had rarely threatened. Giggs, Valencia and Berbatov were in outstanding form and really punishing the hapless Trotters.

It was much more of the same in the second half. We had most of the possession and had we been more clinical, we could have raked up a rugby score.

It was all going so well that the lads started to have mental lapses. Mistakes started to creep into our play and in the 75th minute, a collection of such mistakes resulted in Matthew Taylor leaping over Evra to head Bolton back into the game.

The rest of the game was terribly nerve-wrecking to watch. We were in shambles, inviting Bolton to come at us. All the good work put into the previous 75 minutes, threatened to come undone in the last 15.

Not trying to sound arrogant, but lucky for us, Bolton are a limited team. Had it been another team with a more potent attack, we could very well have lost points in this fixture. Like the rest of us, Ferguson must have breathed a sigh of relief when the final whistle blew, and not before a last gasp save made by Van der Sar to maintain the lead.

It's disappointing to have dominated huge parts of the game only to barely win it by the skin of our teeth.

The silverlining here is that despite an almost total collapse, we still got the 3 points and are at the top of the league. And we got there without playing our best. There in lies our problem as well. I have no idea what our best looks like, or if we're even able to reach that standard. And to further that thought, even if we do reach our peak, I'm not sure if we can sustain it for any meaningful period to make it count.

To make matters worse, the next couple of games are no walk in the park. We get an early game in the Champions League in Russia in midweek. And at the weekend, we get a cornered animal in the form of Liverpool, and you can be sure that beach balls will be banned at Anfield.

United Survives Another Crap First Half

2009-10-05T01:52:00.003+08:00

Manchester United 2 - Sunderland 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (51), Ferdinand (og 90)
Sunderland: Bent (7), Jones (58)

Red Card
Sunderland: Richardson (85)

Team: Foster, Evans, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher (Carrick 72), Scholes (Anderson 45), Nani, Welbeck (Valencia 72), Berbatov, Rooney

At home against a perceivably poorer opponent. These are the types of games you need to win if you want to win the damn league. Unfortunately we didn't turn up today. Actually we were pretty damn awful.

Sunderland took an early lead thru red-hot Darren Bent, a shot which I felt Foster could have done better. But as we all know by now, he's really a pretty poor keeper and as a result we went one down. If that wasn't bad enough, our first half display was possibly one of the worst....ever. Not only were we terribly disjointed, we didn't even have a single shot on goal throughout the entire first half. Credit to the crowd who kept on egging the lads on, but from where I was seated (in front of my tele), someone should be hurling their prawn sandwich at Scholes. It looked obvious he's skipped lunch. He's passes were under hit. In fact the entire team was guilty of misplaced passes and giving it away cheaply.

Fergie must have kicked up a storm at half time because an entirely different team came out in the second half. Well, we were still crap but at least this time we played with a lot more desire. There was much more pressure applied to the Sunderland goalmouth and alot more urgency shown.

It wasn't long before Berbatov equalized with a delightful bicycle kick. It was an outstanding goal that the Sunderland coudn't save.

Attack attack attack chanted the crowd, but 7 minutes later they were shocked to silence. Some putrid defending allowed Kenwyne Jones the time to leap for the ball. Foster pulled a shocker coming for the ball but got outmuscled and the ball was headed into the net. So according to Ferguson, this is the best keeper England has to offer? No wonder England constantly wins fuck all. And if Ferguson persists on using him, so will we.

For the rest of the game, we threw everything but the kitchen sink at Sunderland, but credit to Steve Bruce's team, they are a resolute bunch and dangerous on the counter. We didn't really look like coming back into the game until old boy Richardson was sent off in the 85th minute. It was a silly silly second yellow card he collected. With the 3 points practically in the bag, he stupidly kicked the ball away.

Sunderland's loss was our gain. They ceased to give us trouble on the counter and we poured forward with everyone. And with 2 of the 4 minutes gone in injury time, Evra's shot was deflected into the net by Rio's younger brother. By some fluke, we came away from this disaster with a draw.

What I found utterly amazing was that Ferguson spent all the time complaining about the referee and the lack of added time instead of focusing on just how crap we were, or even his own stupidity of not having Giggs on the bench. After all the heroics of the past weeks, you would assume Giggs would have a place on the bench to provide a telling cross or make a cruscial pass in case it was needed, which we did today in the worst way possible.

Maybe he's just doing what all good managers do, and that is to protect his players from being crucified by the media by deflecting the attention away. Let's just hope for our sanity it's the latter.

Last but fucking not least....please for the love of football, drop Foster!

Giggs Continues Rolling

2009-10-01T04:37:00.003+08:00

Manchester United 2 - Wolfsburg 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Giggs (59), Carrick (78)
Wolfsburg: Dzeko (56)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Anderson, Carrick, Giggs, Valencia (Fletcher 82), Owen (Berbatov 20), Rooney

Huge win. For a brief moment it felt that we were going away with nothing in the game but for the third time in 10 days we had Giggs to thank.

Wolfsburg had taken a shock lead, quite against the run of play from a good header by Dzeko. But Giggs restored parity with a hugely deflected freekick only 3 minutes later.

After some brilliant play from Berbatov, Giggs laid on the ball to Carrick to finish the Germany champions off in the 78th minute with a wonderful curler.

It wasn't our best game, but in the end we produced the goods to take pole position in the group. That said, I'm been a pretty big admirer of Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. I'm kinda disappointed that they didn't show much in this game. Hopefully we'd get a better chance to see their true potential in the reverse fixture....with us emerging as the winners of that one of course.

The game wasn't much of a spectacle in the first half. It was pouring, resulting in mistakes and misplaced passes from both teams. Besides two good chances spurned by Carrick, the only other memorable incident was Owen leaving the pitch with an injury. It's a worrying sign since we're rather short on the stiking department.

His replacement, Berbatov, had a brilliant game. He and Giggs had a hand in everything good we did today. His little flicks and arrogant style of play gave us a swagger we haven't seen since Cantona departed. But let's not get overly excited. It's only one game, and plenty more come. There is still a long way to go before he can measure up to the big man.

Giggs, on the other hand, was simply magnificent. He simply never gives up. His indian summer has been going on for quite sometime and ever since the departure of Ronaldo, he's upped his game to another level. The one thing that worries me here is that from the last few games, it seems that we're becoming too reliant on him. Let's hope Ferguson paces the Welsh wizard. It's a long long season and we've barely scratched the surface.

It was a good performance all around. We probably could have had more had the linesman been less flag-happy.

Giggs Still The Man

2009-09-27T13:25:00.002+08:00

Stoke 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (62), O'Shea (77)

Team: Foster, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes (Carrick 81), Nani (Giggs 56), Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney (Owen 80)

For a full hour, we looked really blunt on the field until Giggs came on. He announced his arrival with a superb cross and even Berbatov couldn't screw up the tap-in. It was the cutting edge that had been missing the entire night.

I like Nani and Valencia, but the honest truth is that they are good, really good until the final pass. For some reason, their brains switch off at the crucial moment when it comes to delivering in that final third of the field. And for the second consecutive weekend, we needed the brilliance of Giggs to save our blushes.

The second goal was more of Gigg's handiwork. His floated freekick invited O'Shea to head the ball home, sinking whatever resistance Stoke had left.

With this victory, we climbed to the top of the league in a bizarre weekend. Pool dumped 6 on Hull, Spurs hit Burnley with 5, Birmingham levelled against Bolton in the dying minutes only to lose it all again. Villa couldn't overcome a ten men Blackburn and even lost the game late. And the most important result of them all, Wigan beat Chelsea to send us top. Strange weekend, but let's relish it while it lasts.

Welbeck Sends United Thru

2009-09-24T05:01:00.003+08:00

Manchester United 1 - Wolves 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Welbeck (66)

Red Card: Fabio (30)

Team: Kuszczak, Evans, Brown, Neville, Fabio, Carrick, Gibson, Welbeck (King 81), Nani, Macheda (De Laet 30), Owen (Valencia 69)

Ferguson made wholesale changes from the team that beat Shitty at the weekend. Owen was rewarded with a starting lineup and he played a pivotal role in the only goal scored in the game. His smart one-two allowed Welbeck to spin free of the Wolves defense and send the ball wide of the keeper and into the net.

It was not an easy game with 11 new faces and the going got tougher when Fabio was sent off for a professional foul half an hour into the game. It was a smart foul as the Wolves player was running in on goal, but it left us with 10 men for the entire duration of the game. Macheda was sacrificed for De Laet to fill in the gap at left back.

Large portions of the game was played in our half and outstanding performances from our defenders and poor finishing from Wolves kept the game level. Brown, De Laet and Evans had incredible games, working their socks off the keep the opponents at bay.

Nani is beginning to realise his potential. He had oodles of skill but still lacks the crucial-decision making to make it count. Once he gains that, hopefully, thru experience, we could very be looking at the second coming of the departed Ronaldo.

I thought Gibson outshone Carrick today. I've always felt Gibson doesn't have what it takes to make the cut at Old Trafford and I'm officially going to take it all back. He's a fighter and never gives up on anything. It's pleasing to know that we have quality and talent on the bench when we need it.

I'm also pleased with the progress of Welbeck. He's matured since returning from the Euro U19 tournament during the summer. The debutant, Joshua Kings, looks like a good prospect too. He was a little too selfish on a couple of occasions, but generally looked like a pretty good player.

It's a bit of a shame that we didn't see many youngsters unlike previous years. Looks like we're giving this cup a decent run with many familar names. With a bit of luck we may just retain it for another season.

What An Incredible Game!

2009-09-20T22:43:00.004+08:00

Manchester United 4 - Manchester City 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (2), Fletcher (48, 80), Owen (90+5)
Manchester City: Barry (16), Bellamy (52, 90)

Team: Foster, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher, Anderson (Carrick 90), Park (Valencia 62), Giggs, Berbatov (Owen 78), Rooney

Awesome awesome game. It had practically everything a neutral would want in a football game.

We opened the game with an early goal from Rooney. Shitty were caught napping and Rooney made the most of it scoring from an Evra pass.

Unfortunately we stopped playing after that. Despite the demoralising start, Shitty grew in strength and Foster probably took pity on them and gifted one back. Instead of clearing the ball, Foster decided to show his dribbling skills and was promptly stripped by Tevez who instinctively passed the ball to Barry to slot the ball into the empty net.

Shitty grew into the ascendancy and started to control the game. Tevez came close to giving Shitty the lead, but his effort hit the post. Just when it seems inevidable that Shitty would take the lead, the half time whistle came to our rescue.

I would have liked to have whatever they had as the half time refreshment. It was a totally different team that came out of the locker room. We gave Shitty no room and started bombarding their penalty area with crosses. And it took less then 3 minutes into the half before Fletcher rose and headed one of those into the net.

As Old Trafford roared it's approval of the new scoreline, Bellamy had other ideas. He single-handedly brought Shitty level again with a rasping shot beyond the flapping Foster. It was back to the drawing board again for the lads. This time, instead of crumbling, there was a huge sense of urgency and we continued to hammer the Shitty defense with pin-point crosses from the irresistable Giggs.

The addition of Valencia in the place of Park added more crossing prowess. This time we rained in the crosses from both the left and the right. Howver, Shay Given was in outstanding form. Berbatov was extremely unlucky to have two headers saved at point blank range.

In the 80th minute, Fletcher scored his second header of the day to give United the lead for the third time. We took the foot off the peddle and paid the consequences.

This time it was Rio who made the error. Only god knows what he was thinking when he gifted the ball to Bellamy. Bellamy ran the length of the pitch and poked the ball beyond Foster who could've done more to cover his angles instead of sprawling on the ground at the first sign of danger. The the third time, Shitty had found an equalizer.

Time was running out, and running out quick. We looked at a loss and just when it seemed that we would have to settle for a draw, Shitty's rushed clearance found Giggs and he in turn found Owen in acres of space in the Shitty box. And right at the death, Owen did what he's done best all his professional career, and that was to beat his former teammate, Shay Given.

United 4 - Shitty 3. Pandemonium.

It was an utterly satisfactory victory. Giggs is god. In all my years of watching Giggs play, this is possibly his best performance. Everyone in red had an outstanding game, possibly with the exception of Foster and Rio.

I'm beginning to worry for Foster. He's proving to be a liability and if this carries on, the players in front of him would start losing confidence as well. So far his mistakes haven't cost us anything yet. We've been lucky that Rooney and gang have been finding the goals to save his blushes.

Whatever the case is, Ferguson needs to start looking around, either from within or in the market for a suitable and long term replacement for Van der Sar. We could jolly well end up in the same situation when we lose Smikes. The inability to replace him properly probably costs us a number of years in limbo.

Poor Game But United Wins

2009-09-16T04:39:00.003+08:00

Besiktas 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer: Scholes (77)

Team: Foster, Evans, Vidic, Evra, Neville, Carrick (Berbatov 64), Scholes, Anderson, Nani, Valencia (Park 84), Rooney (Owen 64)

This is one of those games you'd dig your eyes out if you had to sit thru another 90mins of it. Both sides were piss poor and goal scoring opportunities were almost non-existent.

We clearly came into this game with a plan, and that was to bore the stockings off the Turkish fans. To their credit, they were loud....really loud. Had a lesser team played instead of us, I'd have no doubts the crowd would have intimidated them. But we're made of sterner stuff and having the experience to cope and calm the crowd down (or bore them shitless in this case).

After doing almost absolutely nothing of note for the first 65 minutes, Ferguson finally changed the 4-5-1 formation to a more adventurous 4-4-2 by bringing Owen and Berbatov into the fray. Rooney, to his frustration, was taken off and probaby saved for the big derby at the weekend.

The game opened up abit and before long we had our first goal courtesy of Scholes. Nani's shot was blocked but fell kindly to Scholes who headed it into the net. All that was left was to bore the socks off everyone, which we did magnificiently.

In short, this was a dull, drab game, but in the end, that little bit of class showed and we scampered away with 3 valuable points. A good start to our champions league campaign under difficult conditions.

Arsenal Gifts United 3 Points

2009-08-30T16:42:00.002+08:00

Manchester United 2 - Arsenal 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (pen 59), Diaby (og 65)
Arsenal: Arshavin (40)

Team: Foster, Brown, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Valencia (Park 63), Nani, Giggs (Berbatov 86), Rooney

My word, that was one lucky win. Arsenal were all over us from the start and really were the better team on the day. Only god know how they let us back into the game and eventually lost it in 7 crazy minutes in the second half.

The starting lineup spelt a totally defeatist attitude. Ferguson opted to play Rooney upfront along with Giggs and, Nani and Valencia on the wings, as support. For the uninitiated, you would think we were playing at the Emirates instead of Old Trafford. It was conservative and more important, showed the lack of confidence of the manager in his strikeforce.

The game went according to how the managed planned it. We were under constant threat from the very mobile Arsenal forwards, and only desperate defending and lucky deflections keep the scoreline at 0-0. Our passing was utterly horrible, giving the ball away again and again, putting pressure on the defence. How players like Carrick still manage to get into the team is a mystery for the the Hardy Boys to solve. Giggs and Fletcher were no better at passing either. But in their defence, they made plenty of effort to win the ball back. In fact, Fletcher was the ultimate destroyer. He was Keano in that department.

True to the way the game was going, Arsenal took the lead via an outstanding long-ranged thunderbolt from Arshavin. Had Foster been a split-second faster, he might have saved it, instead he only fractionally got a finger on it as it burst into the net.

Foster, however, made amends early in the second half, instinctively sticking out a leg to save a point blank shot from Van Persie. Arsenal were all over United at that point in time and made for terrible viewing for us, United fans.

Yet against the run of play, Giggs supplied a beautiful angled pass that Rooney latched onto. One on one with the keeper, Almunia brought Rooney down resulting in a penalty. This time Rooney stepped up instead of Carrick and sent Almunia the wrong way, and United the right way.

7 minutes later United got the second. Giggs' freekick from the right was header into his own net by Diaby. Diaby was under no pressure but yet his wayward header fooled Almunia and flew straight into the net.

The game threatened to explode into more goals but neither team had their scoring boots on and good chances were missed on both sides. Van Persie did put the ball into the net 5 minutes into injury time but one of his teammates was caught offside in the preceding play. Wenger was sent to the stand for probably saying something or kicking someone and the whole incident took up all the time that was left on the clock, saving us a few more heart-stopping seconds.

On the final analysis, we were frankly rubbish for large portions of the game. We were sloppy in possession and our passing on the day was simply abysmal. Possibly only Fletcher shone as our only outstanding player. His passing still leaves alot to be desired, but his industry and tackling is top-notched.

Next week is the international weekend and we only get to play high-flying Spurs in a fortnight. It's probably a good thing, we need plenty of time to work things out. Despite winning 3 games, there are plenty of aspects about our play that needs to be worked on and a short break, even this early in the season might just do us some good and give us time to reflect on our mistakes.

Champions League Draw

2009-08-27T23:37:00.010+08:00

I've nothing better to do on a Thursday night/Friday morning, so I'm going to sit in front of my PC and bore myself silly with the Champions League draw. I should really get a tweeter account and do it there. It feels easier doing it but I'm just going to save everyone the trouble and do this one here.

Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B
Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D
Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL Nicosia

Group E
Liverpool
Lyon
Florentina
Debreceni

Group F
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dynamo Kiev
Ruban Kazan

Group G
Sevilla
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H
Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Live Thoughts: After a long long introduction, we finally have the Pot 1 teams allocated. We're in group B. While waiting for the next Pot to be choosen, Paulo Maldini is getting some award. I'm not getting an English feed so have no freaking idea what award he's getting. Not even going to guess.

Live Thoughts: Terry wins European club defender.

Live Thoughts: We avoid meeting Real Madrid. They get grouped with AC Milan.

Live Thoughts: It's CSKA Moscow. Difficult trip to Russia, but we last won the cup there. Maybe a good omen.

Live Thoughts: Xavi Hernandez win European club midfielder. Waiting to see who else we get to play.

Live Thoughts: Damn....we travel to Turkey. Not a nice hunting ground.

Live Thoughts: CSKA Moscow and Besiktas. Tough away fixtures. Dennis Law makes an appearance to hand out the club striker of the year to Messi. And finally we're going to round off this fucking boring draw.

Live Thoughts: We got the Germany champions, Wolfsburg. The home games should be routine for us, but the away games look particularly difficult. Despite chalking up the frequent flier miles, we should still make it to the next round. Thankfully we not in groups A or C. Both groups look like it could go down the wire.

United Answers Critics With Five In Second Half

2009-08-23T10:14:00.003+08:00

Wigan 0 - Manchester United 5
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (56, 65), Berbatov (58), Owen (85), Nani (90)

Team: Foster, Evans (O'Shea 72), Vidic, Neville, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes (Gibson 72), Nani, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney (Owen 72)

United answered the critics to their horrid performance at the midweek in devastating fashion, smashing 5 past Wigan at the newly named JW Stadium (formerly JJB Stadium).

The first half was a typical United game, plenty of possession but terribly goal-shy. Our best chances fell to Fletcher and then subsequently Scholes, but both missed horribly. Wigan had their chances but good defending and Foster kept the game scoreless.

United sprung to life in the second half, with Rooney notching up his century for the club in emphatic fashion with a header in the top left hand corner. Berbatov, who has been ridiculously hardworking on the night scored a beautiful individual goal, first deftly lifting the ball beyond the Wigan keeper then volleying the ball into the net.

It wasn't long before Wigan wondered what hit them when Rooney twisted and turned in the box, unleashing a shot that deflected into the net giving the good guys a 3-0 lead.

With a commanding lead, Ferguson decided to give the two-goal hero a rest along with veteran Scholes, bringing on Owen to shoulder the scoring load. And he didn't disappoint. In a trademark turn and spin move, Owen cleared himself of the defense and scored United's fourth in the 85th minute.

Nani got into the celebration with good freekick to exocise the ghost of Ronaldo. In all, this was the best answer to all the naysayers, myself included.

However, at the same time, this is also our biggest problem. As mentioned in previous posts, our strikers are going to get their share of the goals, but we need more than that to mount a sustained campaigned. Everyone needs to contribute to the shortfall left by Ronaldo and Tevez. As evident in the first half, our midfielders are still unable to fill the deficit when the chances present themselves. We need to be more clinical and more efficient in front of goal. Not everyday we're going to face a team that's going to present us a boatload of chances.

But let's keep those worries for another day. Today is a day to celebrate a great victory, and let's enjoy it while we can.

That's Just Pitiful

2009-08-20T04:36:00.003+08:00

Burnley 1 - Manchester United 0
Scorer
Burnley: Blake (19)

Team: Foster, Evans, Brown (Neville 71), O'Shea, Evra, Anderson (Valencia 59), Carrick, Park, Giggs, Rooney, Owen (Berbatov 64)

We all knew this was not an easy game. This was Burnley's first home game in the top division for over 30 years and emotions were high. Still it's a game we should have come away with a victory, given the quality of the opponents. Taking nothing away from a fiesty performance by the home side, we were simply rubbish.

The fixtures threw up a few seemingly easy games to start us on the new campaign, and we fizzled on the second game. Burnley were good value for a well taken goal in the 19th minute with a superb volley from Robbie Blake. And we never really looked like levelling the score.

With an entirely changed midfield, it's natural to assume it would take sometime for the engine to switch into gear, but we never did. The Anderson and Carrick pairing should NEVER EVER be put into play again. All these two bozos did were square passes and lose the ball. Park's first touch is terrible. He didn't do anything positive in the game. Only Giggs did well.

At the end of the first half, we were awarded a penalty but Carrick's spot kick was saved emphatically. I'm abit surprised that he's our designated penalty kicker. We have players like Giggs, Rooney and Owen around and Ferguson's decision was to have this waterboy take our spot kicks. I can never understand what's on Ferguson's mind.

The second half was more of the same crap. We showed no urgency, and more importantly, we lack the cutting edge. There is absolutely no way we're going to retain the title this year if we continue playing like this.

I caught Chelsea's game against Sunderland yesterday and barring some miracle, they are going to walk away with the title. Every player knows their role and when they pressure the opponents, they give it their all, something evidently lacking in our players. Maybe I'm abit harsh here on the effort thingy, but they just collectively play on the same page.

With the way we're playing right now, there is a good chance we may even fall off the top 4 this season. City and Spurs both look pretty good this season. Pool and Arse won't win the league, but they are right up there too. This is going to be a long hard season and frankly, one I'm not really looking forward to.

Wigan, this weekend, scares the shit outta me. As long as they pack the box, I can't any of our players score.

Where Are The Goals Going To Come From?

2009-08-19T05:19:00.003+08:00

Manchester United 1 - Birmingham 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (34)

Team: Foster, O'Shea, Evans (Brown 75), Evra, Fabio, Fletcher, Scholes, Nani (Giggs 45), Valencia, Rooney, Berbatov (Owen 75)

Damn. It took a while to get this up. I had to give up trying to get this damn blog up with firefox and am currently taking baby steps with IE.

With the amount of hair-pulling and kicking the PC about, I've almost clean forgotten how the Birmingham game went. As far as I recall, we looked very much like we did at the start of last season...quite terrible. And this time without the services of Ronaldo or Tevez.

So the burning question here is, where are the goals going to come from? We know Rooney and Berbatov would get their share, and Owen might chip in abit if he gets a decent run in the team. The rest of the team's....well....quite pathetic in that department. Scholes has lost his touch in front of goal, evident in this game, taking about half a dozen long-ranged shots and hurting an equal number of pigeons flying about. The rest of the team looked equally dismal in front of goal.

We did of course score with Rooney, but were unable to put the game away beyond reasonable doubt. Moreover injuries to Vidic, Rio and just about every right-back we have, Birmingham looked threatening whenever they had the ball. Evra even had to make a goal-line clearance with his head. Thankfully Foster put last week's game behind him and had a relatively stable game.

All in all, we won, and that's what really mattered, even though we really shouldn't have had to worry in the final minutes.

The season's barely begun and Ferguson must realise that we're probably going to have trouble finding goals this season. Rooney is but one man and most of the time he tracks back too deep to collect the ball. I don't really think Berbatov is going to improve much on his goal tally from last season and based on this one game, it might take sometime before Owen gets his engine started.

No Birmingham Review

2009-08-17T20:14:00.000+08:00

I give up. Screw blogger.

All I can say is that blogger just threw a spanner in the works. The posting format totally changed and it's ridiculously different from former platform. I've spent the last 20 odd hours trying to make my posting, but the learning curve is just too steep.

So until something changes, I'm taking a break, and maybe for good.

PS. It took me a freaking minute to find the damn 'post' button! Screw blogger.

Chealsea Beats United On Penalties

2009-08-10T00:10:00.002+08:00

I've got to make this as brief as possible. The past few weeks have been rather hectic, hence I've not been covering the preseason friendlies as much as I would have liked. Cow's mum passed away and my girlfriend had a career threatening crisis, both incidents took me away from watching the game I love. So to Bill Shankly, who famously reckoned that football is more important than life, well, he and all the Liverpool fans can go kiss my ass.

Which brings me to my next point. I was offered tickets to the United in KL but was unable to go due to the passing of Cow's mum. It probably would have been a great experience, but being with a good friend in a time of need was way more important. And while our good neighbours had the good fortune of seeingUnited play twice in KL, we, in Singapore got the short end of the stick, having to host a bunch of ungreatful scousers. Word from the grapevine (people who were involved) was that most of the Liverpool players and their officials were giant dicks, but we probably already knew that. The exceptions were Kuyt and the Israeli boy named Benayoun.

Today's Game
I'm going to be brutally honest here and say outright that Chelsea is going to win the league. The only way we're even gonig to top them is if we do what Liverpool did last season, and that's to play out of our skins. And also the Africa Cup of Nations might work in our favour at the turn of the year when Chelsea loses key players. Other than that, there's no way we can beat them in a straight race.

We dominated the first half of the game, but that was only because Chelsea were still in preseason mode. Nani gave us the lead with a rasping shot.

The second half was a total turn around. Chelsea totally controlled the game. With Fletcher as the only midfielder, we were completely outplayed and outpassed. We weren't helped that Foster was a bunch of nerves and probably played the worst game I've seen a keeper play in my entire life.

We managed to equalise at the death with a great pass from Giggs which set Rooney alight goalwards. However that rescue act merely prolonged the inevitable and we lost the game on penalties.

It's only a pre-season game and the league starts proper next week, but it's worrying to see us outplayed by our closest rival to the title. We have to play alot harder and alot smarter to make up the difference in quality, if we're going to retain the title for a record 4th time.

Goodbye Campbell, We Hardly Knew Ye

2009-07-13T01:58:00.002+08:00

Somewhere between Ronaldo and Tevez signing for City, we've sold Frazier Campbell to Steve Bruce for a cut price of £3.5 million. That figure could rise to a princely sum of £6 million depending on a myriad of factors.

I'm a little disappointed he didn't leave for Hull. For awhile it seemed that Hull could have offered more. I suppose we should be glad for the lad to find a home. It was painfully obvious that he's not at the level we want him to be.

Despite the fact he's not really been given a fair enough chance at Old Trafford, I've not been impressed with his style of play in the recent Under 19s European Championship. I certainly wasn't impressed with his short stay with Spurs and definitely underwhelmed when he played for us in the beginning of the season. The only time he actually looked like a player was when he played for Hull the season before. It was a different time at a different level altogether.

With the arrival of Owen, and the development of two young bucks in Welback and Macheda, Campbell has become surplus to requirements. It gives me the greatest of pleasures when a young player rises the ranks, but in this case, it's the best scenerio for him to leave.

Manucho
Speaking of strikers, anyone knows what's going on with Manucho? He's wowed me in the Africa's Cup of Nations and has literally disappeared from the face of the earth. I know he's had a short time in Greece and practically wasted half a year with Hull. I'm looking forward to see how he's developed, if at all.

I'm sure Rooney and Berbatov would spearhead our attack next season, with Owen close behind. And two young bucks waiting in the wings for their chance to shine.

Eto'O
I don't like entertaining rumours, but am growing uneasy on this whole Eto'O deal. He's probably leaving Barcelona and City has already pulled out from the chase for his signature. All indicators seem to point this way. I personally hope the rumours remain as that....rumours. I'll just say outright that I'm not an Eto'O fan and it's going to take a whole load of convincing if he does arrive.

Moreover I'd rather we spend the money on a midfielder. As it stands, Fletcher alone isn't enough.

United Seals Obertan Signature

2009-07-09T00:20:00.002+08:00

Who?

Exactly. I'm about as clueless as you guys out there. I've never seen him play.

Given his age, 20, I suspect he's one for the future.

Thankfully we didn't fork out a bomb for him. We spent £3million instead of the £10-8 million the media reported would we spend. As far as I'm concerned, it would probably be quite awhile before we even see him in the first team. At 20, he's not exactly old, but if he can't even feature in Bordeaux's first team, how the hell is he going to fit in with us?

I suppose we can only hope he improves well in the near future to justify the risk we took on him. On the bright side, it's not really an expensive risk for a club of our size. Maybe in a couple of years, he might progress enough to take over from Carrick. We can only dream.

I'm Going Gaga Over Owen!

2009-07-04T03:08:00.003+08:00

I really don't understand United fans sometimes. Half the world is up in arms over this deal, which to me is a really good one. No, I take that back, it's a fucking GREAT deal! I absolutely love it.

This signing works for me on so many levels, it's almost a wet dream come true. I'll just note them down on point form since this news filtered down to me right in the middle of the freaking night.

1. We didn't spend any crazy money on some freaking over-rated lazy shit piece of ass named Benzema. I'm not saying Benzema is a poor player, but to sign him for anything even close to the amount Real paid for him is ridiculous. From the few Lyon games I've had the chance to catch last season, he comes across as a lazy, disinterested player. We already have one of those named Berbatov.

2. Owen is a free agent. We didn't spend jack squat.

3. Owen is a low risk-high reward signing. He's a proven goal scorer and we paid nothing to have him on our books. If it doesn't pan out, we just let him rot in the reserves. If he starts banging in goals, we look like fucking geniuses. You gotta be a freaking idiot not to like this move.

4. Owen is at his lowest point in his career with practically everyone writing him off. You can bet he's going to come over to Old Trafford and work his fucking butt off.

5. The Michael Owen/Liverpool fanboys can all come suck my majestic cock. It's going to be absolutely hilarious how they are going to react. Even if you can't agree with any of the above (in which case you probably suck anyway), this reason should justify the signing. Too good and too funny to be true.

6. By the unwritten laws of scoring against your previous club rule, you can be sure Liverpool fans are already quaking in their shoes at the prospect of facing Owen. Fucking love the irony.

7. We are probably not finished with adding to the squad. Fans are acting like this is the be all and end all of the signings for this season. We're going to let the chips fall where they are before we make another move if possible. I think this is prudent and wise, considering the silly money that is fly around, especially in Spain. We cannot and will not be pushed into a position to spend silly money on silly players. Past experiences with Nani, Anderson, Carrick, Hargreaves and Berbatov in the last couple of seasons should really have opened Davd Gills eyes on how to do business in the market, although I still think it's not beyond him to make another wild purchase.

Valencia Deal Completed

2009-07-01T03:42:00.002+08:00

Looks like we've made our first deal of the summer. We've reportedly signed Valencia from Wigan for a fee of £16million. I'm not overly rolled over with this deal but I can see Valencia a useful part of the squad with the departures of Ronaldo and Tevez.

Speaking of Ronaldo, he's well and truely gone in a deal where everyone comes away a winner. Real Madrid gets their man, Ronaldo gets to fulfill a dream and we finally get to fleece someone in the market. I would like to thank Ronaldo for all the goals he's scored and the contribution to the club while he was here. I wouldn't exactly wish him all the best, but he wouldn't be getting any hate mails from me either. I'm just finally glad that we can have a normal summer from now on.

While I'm doing parting shots, everyone who has been reading knows that I really would love to have Carlitos back, but his recent tirades to the press has been pretty awful. We all know he's bitter to the core and we all know he's somewhat been given a rough time the past year. But he's throwing away all that goodwill out of the window. With each interview, he's burning bridges faster than I can strip to a Hot Chocolate song.

The best thing he can do right now is to sign up (with Shitty or whoever), suit up and, for the love of god, fucking shut up. And I do bloody hope we never sign another Argentinian. Veron was bad, Heinez was awful and Tevez is starting to stink. Let's just stick with second-rated Brazilians.

09/10 Manchester United Premiership Fixtures

2009-06-17T19:41:00.004+08:00

Once again we reached the dog days of summer and I'm literally bored to death without any United games to watch. With the greasy one almost gone, there's little concrete news to keep me entertained, bar the countless speculation of who we're going to sign. Or more accurately put, how we're going to get fleeced in the current market climate.

Perhaps the Premier League fixtures will go someway to ease that restlessness.

*Edit*

Would you believe that the premiership fixture list is actually copyrighted?! That means I've got to remove the fixture list from this blog or pay some money to a bunch of rich and already greedy people. It's totally senseless. No wonder more and more people are tuning out with all these ridiculous fees to pay, especially for cable, just to watch our favourite team.

I sometimes wonder if these people actually know how to market their product. Perhaps is just as well that La Liga is gaining in popularity. Some of these people just need a kick up their collective balls to understand the world of internet marketing. I suppose at the end of the day, it's all about milking as much from fans as humanly possible.

Anyway to fill in the gap, I've left a link with the fixtures. I'm personally finding it harder and harder to watch EPL games nowadays. It's getting too expensive and less exciting.

*End of Edit*

I'm pretty sure due to our other commitments like the Champions League and the FA Cup, many of the games listed here will be subjected to change. Not to mention, a number of games will be moved to other slots for TV.

At first glance, it doesn't seem all that bad. We get to kick off against two promoted sides, but we all know our propensity to fuck up early in the season. We also end the season against a couple of clubs who look like relegation candidates. It certainly looks better than the hand we were given last season. That said, it's still 38 games to the finish line and a year away from kicking someone off that little perch.