Guest Post: Wasted Kagawa
Olympiakos 2-0 Manchester United: Woeful display from United
Olympiakos Vs. Manchester United Champions League preview
Tweet Shinji and Robin haven’t been together on the pitch very often this season. Author: @wastedkagawa Follow @wastedkagawa on...
Tweet Joel Campbell scores for Olympiakos against Manchester United in the Champions League Manchester United suffered defeat in Athens at...
Tweet Wayne Rooney will be hoping to find the net against Olympiakos after a great goal Saturday Some may consider Manchester...
Shinji and Robin haven’t been together on the pitch very often this season.
Author: @wastedkagawa
Follow @wastedkagawa on Twitter
We’ve got a guest post for you today, on the use – or misuse – of Shinji Kagawa at Manchester United, by someone who has very strong opinions on the matter. This one is sure to stir up lots of debate, so feel free to discuss (no abuse!) in the comments. Enjoy.
Manchester United suffered defeat in Athens at the hands of Greek Champions Olympiakos after a woefully inept performance. The visitors are down 2-0 from the first leg and have it all to do at Old Trafford in three weeks’ time. Alejandro Dominguez’s instinctive reaction to a shot from Giannis Maniatis ended up in the back of the net past David De Gea.
Dominguez was unlucky not to have scored earlier, when his mazy, unopposed run was blocked by a last-ditch Nemanja Vidic tackle. Chris Smalling, deployed at right back, looked awkward and uncomfortable as he stumbled and bumbled his way up and down the touchline. He wasn’t alone, with United only registering their first shot on goal in the 89th minute of the match.
The home side doubled their lead in the second half when Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell scored a curling left-footed shot from outside the area to again leave the Spaniard helpless. Cleverley and Valencia were replaced by Welbeck and Kagawa who didn’t have any significant impact, whilst forwards Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie were anonymous. Here we discuss the talking points from the game and welcome comments from both sets of fans.
Some may consider Manchester United’s current season a Greek tragedy, with David Moyes’ men way off the pace in the Premier League. The Champions League is generally a nice distraction, especially considering the opposition facing domestic rivals in the competition. Wayne Rooney scored his first goal since the 3-2 victory over Hull City and will be looking to link up again with Robin van Persie as United aim to do one better than last season and get into the quarter finals.
United have met Olympiakos four times in their history, with the most recent coming back in October 2002, when Juan Sebastian Veron scored a superb goal in a 3-2 victory. United have won all four matches scoring twelve goals to the Greek’s two. The away side are missing Nani (hamstring), Phil Jones (hip) and Jonny Evans (calf) who have remained in Manchester due to injury, whilst Juan Mata is cup tied.
Author: Rob
Follow Rob on Twitter
Manchester United went to South London on Saturday evening, and emerged with a creditable 2-0 win against in-form Crystal Palace. In another era – i.e. the one that ended last May – this would’ve been considered the archetypal ‘routine’ away win in the Premier League, but almost amazingly, this was United’s first away win of 2014. How quickly times change. On the day, a penalty from Robin van Persie and an excellent first time shot by Wayne Rooney – both goals coming after some excellent play by Patrice Evra – made the difference on Saturday. As always, we look forward to hearing from everyone in the comments.
Manchester United travel to South London today against a Crystal Palace side who haven’t lost at home since a 3-0 thumping at hand of Newcastle United just before Christmas. David Moyes will be surely hoping that this is the fixture that notches up United’s first away win this year. The last away win was over Norwich City by one goal to nil.
Wayne Rooney, who signed a contract extension yesterday, will be looking to get on the scoresheet as he hasn’t found the back of the net since the 3-2 win over Hull post Christmas. The last time United played at Palace was in Rooney’s debut season. The match ended in a dire 0-0 draw.
Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj could make his first start for the club since January whilst Marouane Fellaini is also in contention. Jonny Evans is still a doubt although Phil Jones is expected to return to first team action.
Author: Rob
Follow Rob on Twitter
Manchester United emerged from the Emirates last night with a 0-0 draw against Arsenal. United’s ever-chirpy Instagram account described it as a “promising point” while fans on Twitter, in contravention of basic mathematics and the fact that Arsenal away is quite a difficult game, determined it to be a “pointless point.” The buildup to the match was somewhat strange, with United miles away from the title race for the first time in decades, and the Gunners still in contention for the first time in at least six years.
Nevertheless, this fixture played out as it often has in recent years – tense, tight, United set up to defend deep and hit on the break, with Arsenal playing most of their football in front of the United backline. With both teams coming off massive disappointments – including Arsenal’s 5-1 shellacking at Anfield, and every aspect of Manchester United’s existence for the past eight months – there was a palpable hesitancy about the attacking play, and 0-0 in the end was an unsurprising result. As always, we look forward to hearing from both sets of fans (as well as resident comment troll Minimal, whose allegiance is yet to be determined).
Manchester United travel to the Emirates to take on Arsenal following disappointing results for both clubs over the weekend. The visitors could only manage a draw against bottom club Fulham, whilst Arsenal were hammered 5-1 by a rampant Arsenal. United have only beaten two teams, as it stands this evening, in the top ten – West Ham, who have risen to tenth following their win over Norwich, and Arsenal – with a Robin van Persie header back in November.
Since that game, United have only won three games in the league at Old Trafford – a shocking statistic. The visitors are without Phil Jones and Jonny Evans, who both picked up injuries in the 2-1 defeat away at Stoke City, whilst Arsenal have Yaya Sanogo available from a long term injury.
In a quite amazing game of football, Manchester United conceded a 94th minute equaliser against a Fulham side, who had led for most of the match. Darren Bent headed home the winner following a parry from David De Gea. Steve Sidwell, who played a major part in the equaliser, opened the scoring when no one picked up his run from midfield and he latched onto Lewis Holtby deep cross.
United then dominated proceedings, despite Fulham nearly scoring on the counter attack just before half time, and were finally rewarded for their efforts when Robin van Persie converted a wayward Juan Mata shot. Two minutes later United were in front, following a left footed strike from Michael Carrick, that took a deflection before leaving a flat footed Stekelenburg helpless.
The home side looked like they’d wrapped up all three points, until Steve Sidwell pounced on soft header from Nemanja Vidic, trying to find Michael Carrick, before playing in Kieran Richardson’s who released a thunderous drive, which was parried away from United’s Spanish keeper into the path of Darren Bent, who headed home to give the visitors a valuable point.
Here we discuss the talking points from the game and welcome comments from both sets of fans.
Manchester United host Fulham on Sunday, with both sides low on confidence following early FA Cup exists and poor league form. United welcome back Rene Meulensteen, who joined the United coaching staff in 2001 and helped Sir Alex Ferguson win a number of league titles and the Champions League in 2008.
Meulensteen has had a tough start to his managerial career in England, with Fulham rock bottom and no having won a league fixture since New Years day. The visitors have lost ex-United forward Dimitar Berbatov to Monaco and have conceded 53 goals so far this term – the worst in the league. United ran out 3-1 winners earlier in the season at Fulham, with Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie getting on the scoresheet.
The home side welcome back Nemanja Vidic, who announced earlier in the week he is to leave the club at the end of the season, who is available again after being sent off against Chelsea in January, whilst David Moyes will be looking to Rooney and van Persie to start working with Juan Mata to form an impressive attacking trio. Time is running out for Manchester United, with Liverpool now ten points clear after their 5-1 hammering of Arsenal, and a win against the relegation threatened Londoners is key.
Author: Tony
Follow Tony on Twitter
I have worked in multi-national organisations, and specifically Human Resources for over thirty years and in my role as a consultant I help businesses with performance and talent management systems.
Organisations have thousands of employees and they are trying to maximise performance from each one, attract new talent into the business while rewarding and retaining their top performers.
