For the regular readers of the blog you will be well aware that I am a realist, rather than a fantasist who loses himself in endless transfer possibilities. When I was younger, maybe I thought “Could we sign a Roberto Baggio or a Marco Van Basten?” – which at the time was ludicrous, considering the attraction of Italy – however, with Manchester City signing David Silva and David Villa moving to Barcelona before the World Cup, surely there is potential to add to this already impressive squad so that United can challenge both domestically and on a European front?

Mesut Ozil was extremely impressive as a trequartista for Germany this summer, operating intelligently behind Miroslav Klose and playing a major part in England’s elimination. I, along with a number of other Reds, think that Ozil’s talent and intelligence would be a much needed addition to a squad who are still relying on the aging legs of Giggs and Scholes. So my question is – if Ozil moves to Chelsea or Real Madrid for the reported £12million that some sources are quoting, can Fergie still state that there is no value for money?

I am in no position to question the managerial capabilities of Sir Alex Ferguson. He is shrewd enough in the transfer market to know the quality of a player and has previously purchased a number of quality footballers that were significantly undervalued. The fact is that Manchester United do not have money to spend on players like Ozil, Wesley Sneijder or Mario Balotelli. Again, we were once linked to Zidane at Bordeaux, Batistuta at Fiorentina and Luis Figo then at Sporting Lisbon – with all three players moving elsewhere. I am a realist. However, for £12million would you not consider that value for money? Even if it was £20million – for a player that could make that difference in a tight European match against a deep lying defense – wouldn’t that be worth it?

Fergie was quoted as saying:

“I cannot speak about other clubs. We are comfortable with the squad we have got. We bought players at the right time of the season and we are happy with what we have.”

Although United have purchased Chris Smalling for £10million from Fulham and young Mexican striker Javier Hernandez, a third addition in the form of a creative outlet would be welcomed. Can United still challenge both domestically and on a European front? Of course – we have a quality squad, the best manager and a desire to win. The problem is when have United ever looked for ‘sell on’ value before? The philosophy of ‘how can we make as much money out of this asset’? Hernandez looks a great prospect but the cynical side of me thinks that if he is a success – United will no doubt sell him on for a hefty profit. If we approach transfers this way, we will never sign players of Ozil’s quality. Ok, we don’t know the ins and outs of the transfer dealings – even if some of us believe we are mini agents! However, say Ozil did move to another club for a fee between £12million and £20million – would it concern you? Do you think we need him? Would the clubs lack of ambition in the transfer market anger you? Or should I just sit back, forget reality and look to the future?

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So we’ve been linked with Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Jack Rodwell, James Milner and Angel Di Maria. As much as I like to think of all the player in the world that I would love to see at Old Trafford, lets get real, we are no longer a club that can purchase a Wayne Rooney for £30 Million – we are now looking at resale value and deals to help balance the book. Why are we balancing the books? To be a safe and well run club? Total nonsense. We are over £700million in debt, which is rising year on year and the only people we are funding are the Glazer family. As much as i’d like to think we could sign these players to make us stronger next season for a potential title challenge, the reality is we are falling behind.

Ferguson has a difficult job, because he had been at the club nearly nineteen years prior to the take over in 2005. He has invested too much time, effort and passion to throw it all away and I, even if some other Reds do not, understand that. With his decision to operate under the Glazer family, he obviously will not come out and do a Rafa Benitez (although that is ironic considering he is the one who spent it all!) and blame the lack of funds to be able to purchase new blood. No, he has to state that he doesn’t believe there is value in the market – which make him look foolish, considering even us amateurs know there is. Where is the £80million Ronaldo money? Why is that not being invested back into the club? What is going on should be illegal.

The latest hefty interest rate rise of 2% to16.25 per cent (as of August) came about after United broke financial rules governing the loan. This is where the extra £75million interest comes into play, so looks like we’ll have £5million left over from the Ronaldo money. News also emerged that the Red Knights bid is looking increasingly doomed as a number of key players are becoming disaffected and are losing hope of persuading the Glazer family to relinquish power at Old Trafford. So all in all a pretty bad day if you’re a Red. The negativity comes from the apparent over-pricing of the club by the Glazer family, who are obviously content on making as much money as they can in anything they do, and a bid would only be submitted to ‘save face’, which would inevitably be turned down. The comes after mysterious reports that the Glazer family rejected a £1.5Billion offer for Manchester United from the far East.

David Gill obviously doesn’t see a problem with the lack of transfer activity or commitment:

“Hernandez and Smalling are signings we’ve already made and the other point to bear in mind is that the Premier League is bringing in squad limits next year of 25, which we clearly operate in European competitions but is now coming to the Premier League. There will be unlimited under-21s and other rules and we’ll be taking all that into consideration.”

I’ve made my feelings on Gill known in the past, which was met by mixed reaction. But the whole head in the sand attitude and Chinese government stance if you say anything negative about the Glazer family is laughable. You just have to look at the reports of long serving stewards losing their jobs because they are sticking up for what they believe in. Where is the fairness in that? Gill once famously said “debt is the road to ruin” – so where does he stand on that viewpoint now?

Anyways, Fergie’s comments are below, and if I am perfectly honest – we could lose more players than we bring in this summer. Expect Macheda, Welbeck and Gibson to be thrust forward even more next term:

‘In the market today it’s very, very difficult and the structure of our squad is good in terms of ages, the balance, the numbers and there’s a lot of good young players. In the market today it’s very, very difficult and the structure of our squad is good in terms of ages, the balance, the numbers and there’s a lot of good young players,’ said Ferguson, who was speaking in New York to promote United’s four-game tour of North America this summer. Sometimes you have to trust in all the development of the last few years and I’m going to stick with that, or most of it. There may be one signing and maybe we’d like to get a good player to the club, of course, but it’s not easy in the present day climate. I’ve nothing definite to tell you because we’re still assessing whoever’s available and the difficulties in terms of who you’d bring in.’

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Every now and again you get a defeat that is so demoralising you just don’t know what to say – which is why i’ve taken so long to blog about our exit on away goals to Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Like in 1993, 1998 and 2002 United have exited the competition without losing the overall tie and generally outclassing the opposition for the first 45 minutes. I hope to examine the overall performance from both legs, mistakes made and where this leaves us for the rest of the season.

Performance
I thought we were outstanding in the first half against them, they didn’t get a kick at all. Valencia was causing the hopeless Badstuber all sorts of problems whilst Rafael had ‘The next Zidane’ in his pocket and Nani left Phillip Lahm (once linked with a move to United) with ease for both of his goals. Wayne Rooney didn’t look himself, but put in a glorious ball to Valencia for the second goal. There were comparisons with the Roma game as we just blew them away pressing high up the pitch and breaking swiftly. Robben and Ribery always had their backs to goal, whilst Fletcher was harassing and hounding Van Bommel. It couldn’t have gone any better. Then Carrick made a monumental error by allow the ball to drop before clumsily falling over to allow Olic a shot at goal at a very acute angle. It was quite literally a ‘shit’ goal to give away. However, I didn’t believe this was the ‘lifeline’ Bayern needed – it merely would be a consolation goal after a dominant first half performance from United. I thought United would push on from their first half lead, however that was on the basis of eleven vs. eleven.

Rafael
I think Rafael is going to be a fine fullback and his dismissal will no doubt be a valuable lesson in his future development at the club. Scott over at RoM was quite understandably annoyed and frustrated with Rafael for his conduct and sending off, which ultimately led to United’s downfall. I can see where he is coming from but I thought his first booking was harsh. The tackle he made warranted a booking but the key issue here is should play have been stopped prior to his tackle? If the referee had of given a foul in the first place against the cunning Van Bommel (who has been doing that type of thing for years) then he may not have picked up that initial yellow card. But, that is football I guess, he did, and was then giving a yellow card for pulling back Ribery when Bayern were attacking. For me this was the key point in them match, which coincided with Wayne Rooney’s removal from proceedings due to his injury, which left Nani up top on his own.

Fergie’s decision
I’ve said it before, i’m not even qualified to talk to the man, let alone to assess his decisions, however I felt that with Rooney off we needed a presence up front in the shape of Berbatov or Macheda – however, Fergie opted for a Nani as a lone front man to run on to long balls as the Bayern backline pushed up. I was hoping that Fergie may take a big gamble and put Federico Macheda in ahead of Berbatov, however that was also very unlikely. We at The Stretty Rant think highly of the young Italian and I just felt with his knack of scoring vital goals with a limited amount of chances, it was worth a punt. Sadly though it was clear that when we went down to ten men we were restricted to playing deep (to be fair what else can you do) and looking for Nani with balls over the top after winning the ball. I think in the ten minutes that Berbatov was on the field he touched the ball once, which was from a challenge. That is not a pop at him, I didn’t think it would be his type of game – especially considering we were down to ten men. However, that is now two big games (as mentioned he only played ten minutes in the Bayern match) that he hasn’t been able to get something for us. I posed the question back in January regarding the long term future of Dimitar Berbatov, which was then backed up by Fergie’s admission that it is ‘difficult’ to include Dimitar Berbatov in a 4-3-3 formation. He has fantastic ability, has notched up a good few goals for us this season – but I believe that we were expecting a little more from him in the Chelsea and Bayern games.

Reaction to elimination
A nation of ABUs rejoiced in United’s embarrassing elimination at the hands of an inferior team. That is what it felt like on Thursday morning as I flicked through the back pages. I had a ‘Twitter conversation’ with Oliver Kay regarding his ‘prediction’ that English sides would ‘struggle’ in the Champions League this season. Compared to previous years, he would be right – English clubs have dominated the final since 2005 and now there isn’t an English club in the Semi finals even. However, the problem I had was putting United in the same bracket of tactically outclassed Chelsea, totally outclassed Arsenal and totally embarrassed Liverpool. United’s elimination was a million miles from what happened in Barcelona the night before when the best team on the planet dismantled an Arsenal side that is claimed to ‘play the best football in England’ or for that matter the way in which Jose Mourinho set up his side at Stamford Bridge in the last round. Liverpool’s continued poor performance both domestically and in the European Cup shows that last season’s push for the title and Quarter final appearance in the Champions League was indeed an over achievement for a side so reliant of two players. The Europa League is the purgatory of European competition. I personally would never want to see United associated with it as it is a monumental step backwards for a club with ambition. At least if Liverpool win it they may get an opportunity to defend it next season?

Kay’s opinion of the game, based on our exchange over Twitter, was that United were excellent in the first half, but poor for the rest of the tie. That may be true, I felt that we were awful in Munich – slow, lack of urgency – even though the Bayern centre half pairing at times looked like they’d only met each other fifteenth minutes before kick off. But if you do look at the chances in the match (and of course they had theirs) but Rooney had a glorious opportunity to make it 2-0 in the first half, Vidic hit the bar at 1-1 and the calamitous error by the usually excellent Patrice Evra resulted in Olic scoring his first of the tie. To be honest, that kind of summed up the tie. United looking like they were getting a result, before being dealt a hammer blow. End of the day, we are in the same boat as all four English clubs, nine times winners Real Madrid, seven times winners AC Milan and Hibernians F.C. of Malta who were eliminated in the first qualifying round back in July last season – we are all out of the European Cup. I’m not trying to argue the fact that ‘we were robbed’ – but i’m just trying to paint a picture that on the pitch (off it is completely different story) we haven’t got too many problems. Circumstance went against us with the sending off, individual errors led to three of their goals (doubt you can classify Robben’s goal as an individual error or though some have argued there is no way he should have had that amount of space) and it just wasn’t our night.

My issue with Kay’s point is that I felt that United, in 45 minutes, proved that they were a far superior side to Bayern Munich and it was just a case of ‘it wasn’t our day’. I tried to compared the performance to that of the comparison people always make with Pele and Maradona. You can’t compare Pele to Maradona in terms of attributes (so as Kay was stating that United were for three quarters of the tie) as Pele would have a 10 (out of ten) for right foot and 10 for the left, whilst Maradona would have had 7 for right foot at 20 for his left foot. So my point is that United were so dominant, so impressive and so clinical (although we could have had even more!) in the first half that it is incomparable to the other three halves of football. Some of you may think i’m mad rambling on about two old players and using an example were it is opinion based rather than fact – however, my honest assessment of the game on Wednesday was that United were simply unlucky. Not outplayed, not outclassed and most certainly not embarrassed.

Media reaction
James Ducker of the Times did an interview in their paper yesterday looking at United’s ‘troubles’ after the elimination to Bayern Munich. Ducker was extremely well balanced in his answers claiming that United can still win the title, although they are now reliant on the Londoners dropping points elsewhere. He also examined the transfer policy of United stating that although Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez are moving in the summer, United need to consider reinforcements for the aging Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville (a point raised by United Rant a couple of weeks ago) and cover for the injury prone Rio Ferdinand. There are also uncertainties on a number of players staying at the club with the Glazer family keen to make as much money as they can and get an ROI on their original player investment. Nemanja Vidic has been linked with a move away, even if he has recently stated he is happy at the club. The general conclusion from the interview is that United have an uphill struggle to win a fourth successive title, although it isn’t all doom and gloom as some people/fans are making out.

Other articles have painted Ferguson as a bewildered old fool that is ‘losing it’. I don’t know how many times i’ve heard that at the club over the years, with every time Ferguson proving the doubters wrong. Could he have changed something on Wednesday night to ensure our passage to the semi final? Of course he could have done but he choose to stick with the tactic of knocking balls over the top for Nani with the whole of the Bayern side pushing up for a second. He nearly got his wish when Patrice Evra played a ball over the top for Nani to sprint onto and was only denied by a strong hand from Butt.

Conclusion
So hopefully this is where I can bring all most points together rather than sounding a like a bitter twat going off on one and bring two old men into the equation (Pele and Maradona not Kay and Ducker!). We are out of the Champions League in a very cruel fashion. I honestly felt that we were superb in the first half and would have gone onto win the match by more goals in the second half. Michael Carrick was at fault for the first goal, whilst the sending off of Rafael and injury to Rooney changed the game. We had a great opportunity to go into the semi-finals, however it simply wasn’t to be our night. With regards to the ‘future’ – we all know the extremely worrying problems we have off the field, which has resulted in ticket prices going up, money not being spent on players and United pulling out of pre-agreed deals. However, on the pitch – we were ‘unluckily’ knocked out at the quarter final stage whilst are hot on the heels of Chelsea. A far cry from where we were in the late 70s and early 80s. We’ve been spoiled over the past twenty years and I do not think that based upon the performance on Wednesday that a massive overhaul is needed. Yolkie made the point to me that Nani turned his United career around in four months, whose not to say Anderson won’t when he returns from injury? Like I said changes are needed off the field with the ownership of Manchester United, but you can’t compare the exit on Wednesday to that of Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool, can you? You’ll argue – ‘who cares we are still out’ – and I totally agree, but there is going out and needing massive change and then there is going out and tweaking the side slightly. We all ready knew that Scholes, Giggs and Neville can’t go on for ever and I know it is frustrating to hear Sir Alex state that he won’t be buying in the summer, however he also said that Wayne Rooney wouldn’t play the other night. The manager keeps his cards close to his chest and we will have to wait and see what happens in the summer. Massively disappointing result but we need to pick ourselves up for tomorrow’s trip to Blackburn Rover as there is a fourth consecutive Premier League title to win.

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Having already beaten Arsenal twice this season, Sir Alex Ferguson may be slightly bemused as to how the Gooners are only two points behind the league leaders. However, Fergie believes that ‘on paper’ Arsenal appear to have an easier run in but at this point in the season that theory ‘does not really work’. Arsenal travel to Birmingham City on Saturday, where both Chelsea and United have dropped points this season. This will be the first time Arsenal travel to St Andrews since the infamous 2-2 draw where Gael Clichy gave away a last minute penalty, Eduardo horrendously broke his leg and saw then team captain William Gallas sit bewildered in the center circle after the game.

Arsenal have lost four times to Manchester United and Chelsea this season in the Premier League, scoring two and conceding ten. United played Arsenal off the park at the Emirates, whilst narrowing beating Arsenal at Old Trafford. Many fans believe that Arsenal have an ‘easier’ run in, which sees them travel to Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham and host Manchester City. Although United have a title deciding match against Chelsea next weekend, Ferguson believes that at this point of the season every game is difficult:

“On paper they have the easier run-in, but at this time of the season I’m not sure that theory works or means anything. You can drop points anywhere as Chelsea did at Blackburn and your advantage on paper all of a sudden doesn’t look so good. I don’t think you can say with certainty you’d be confident going anywhere at this time of the season and winning. We just have to rely on our experience and hopefully we can keep a relatively clean bill of health between now and the end of the season. The name of the game is to win your games and hopefully we can do that. That’s our best way of looking forward.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that out of the three remaining teams for the title, it comes down to consistency:

“There are three teams in the race and it is down to the team who are the most consistent. We can only focus on our own performances. We know our route has to be perfect. To be perfect it is important we focus on our performances. We need some help from the other teams, but we know that will only work if we are consistent and keep our momentum. We have created a fantastic momentum and we have created a great belief within our squad. The consistency of our run is the most important. We want to keep the spirit, the hunger, the desire and the intelligence we have shown until now. For a long time we have fixed ourselves targets. We play every game like our life depends on it and it has been like that for a long time now. We need to bring consistency to our attitude. We have a remarkable attitude, a remarkable spirit in the team, and must just continue like we do.”

However, Paul Scholes took a completely different view to that of Sir Alex Ferguson and stated that Arsenal should be considered a threat, based on their run in:

“You can’t rule out Arsenal, especially with the run-in they’ve got. They’ve played all the top teams twice already, so they’ll be confident of putting together a good run of results. But the bottom line is that if we win all our matches we’ll win the league.”

Although Russian and Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin believes that Arsenal need more players to win trophies:

“I am still of the opinion that to win trophies Arsenal needs more players. There is the simple fact that last summer we sold two players and bought only one. So there is an obvious deficit of at least one. Then we lost Van Persie, Gibbs and Ramsey for a long time. So for me it is natural we need new players. Without the variety of players we have less diversity in attack. That allows our opponents to read our combinations more easily. Finally, it results in less ball possession for us and our defence comes under more pressure. The Premier League is very interesting, at least as long as we continue fighting to win it. But without new experienced players, real stars, it will be difficult to achieve success. Ideally we need three or four such experienced players and then among our youths there should be guys who are not only good at playing football but have real character.”

So bit of a mix bag from both managers and players, however if you’re asking me from a fans point of view the next two/three weeks will be massive for Arsenal. They led in 2007/08 for the majority of the season, before losing to United in April and generally ‘running out of steam’ before finishing third behind Chelsea. They were eliminated by Liverpool in the Quarter finals of the Champions League, which as we know United went onto win. Arsenal fans will of course fancy their chances for the title, especially with United and Chelsea playing one another next weekend and hoping for a draw. The European Cup is a different matter altogether and to be honest, I preferred our draw to their one!

Of course Arsenal can win the title, history has proven that in 1998 and 2002, when United lost their lead to the North London club who went onto win the double. But away to Blackburn Rovers isn’t going to be easy, whist Tottenham will do everything in their power to stop Arsenal winning the title whilst pushing their own bid for a Champions League spot. Tomorrow’s game – Birmingham away is a tricky tie, with United, although playing well, drawing 1-1.

Just a quick note to any potential abusive Arsenal fan on here. Don’t care if you want to slag the article, Fergie or Scholes off – but if you do please back up a rant with some facts (i.e. please state what you believe has been said isn’t true). My small observation is that if you give Arsenal a bit of praise, they’re your best friends! However, if they disagree with you – they’ll hunt you down.

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Sir Alex Ferguson was full of praise for his Manchester United side coming back from a goal down to beat the seven times European Champions 3-2 on their own turf. However, Ferguson was disappointed that United conceded a late back-heeled goal by Clarence Seedorf, the same Seedorf who scored the second goal in the San Siro three years ago to send United crashing out of Europe.

Manchester United scored their first goal against AC Milan in Italy and recorded their first win over the Rossoneri. Wayne Rooney scored a brace whilst Paul Scholes got the opener. Ferguson felt that in the first half, United were far too sloppy with possession and described events as a ‘catelogue of errors’:

It was a catalogue (of errors) but I think the start they made to the game helped them and made us nervous. But once we settled I thought we did okay. I said that we had to make better use of the ball and use Wayne Rooney more because I thought he had the measure of them at the back and he was fantastic in the second half.
The belief grew and getting the goal just before half-time was important

Ferguson described the final five minutes as a ‘carnival’ and admits that AC Milan have turn the tie ‘into a game’:

“I thought we were coasting at 3-1 and then there was a carnival at the end of the game. We were completely in control of the match and that second goal has made it a game that it shouldn’t have been.”

United and Milan meet again on the 10th March for the return leg at Old Trafford.

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Sir Alex Ferguson and Mike Phelan saw AC Milan beat Udinese 3-2 on Friday, with Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho starring. The United manager was quoted as saying:

“It’s a good time for us to be going to Milan. They played this weekend (beating Udinese 3-2 on Friday night), they’ve lost Kaka and have a few injuries, whereas we aren’t playing this weekend and we have had a good rest. You have to recognise they are not short of skill and experience. Ronaldinho, Pato all these players, but equally we have players who can win the match too. After the experience in the San Siro three years ago, where they dominated the game, I know that won’t happen again.”

Leonardo has turned things around at the San Siro having got off to a very shaky start. The Milan boss saw his side lose 1-0 to FC Zurich earlier the campaign but then went to Madrid and beat Real 3-2 on their own turf. United will be hoping that Milan will repeat their lackluster performance in the 2-0 defeat at the hands of city rivals Internazionale. However, AC Milan were without the injured Pato, who will start against Manchester United on Tuesday.

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You’ve seen it before – a right sided player is jockeyed by two players, he performs a ludicrous Cruyff before wrong footing the opposing player and delivers a cross to the far post, which is bundled in by the out of sorts keeper. Garrincha I hear you say? Or perhaps Luis Figo? Nope – Luis Nani today showed the whole world his quality, determination and class by putting on a mesmerising show at the Emirates today.

I have never been the biggest fan of Nani, but only in terms of him being ‘the next Ronaldo’. He never was going to be the next Ronaldo, nor never will. However, you can not take away from him the class he showed today to help open the scoring at Arsenal. His trickery and skill were all on show today but also an urgency to attack, which is something that I have always cited as his biggest weakness. He broke at pace to setup Wayne Rooney for the second. There was to be no hesitation, no checking inside but a determination and drive to get forward and attack.

I would like to think that I am not fickle, I tend to stick to my initial views – which could actually make me slightly narrow minded. However, my earlier criticism of Nani was shared by many Reds and obviously Sir Alex Ferguson, who keep him out of the first team for a while. Coming back into the side and performing like he has done recently shows great determination, grit and a fire in the belly that I didn’t know he had. We were linked with Angel DI Maria last month and there were reports Nani was offered up in exchange. We ran a poll and the result was quite surprising. Possibly caught up in transfer window hysteria, but a massive 93% of you (566 voters) wanted to get Di Maria in at the expense of Nani. I’m sure a lot of you, including myself, will be pleased that you initial vote didn’t materialise and I’m hoping that we’ll see many more performances like that from Luis Nani.

Nani obviously shares our opinion that he performed well today with his post match comments:

“I think that was my best game. I played well, scoring and getting an assist. It was a fantastic performance from the team and I was so happy to help. I’m working hard every day to be fit for the team. I want to help the team play well. I can feel the confidence of my team-mates, the fans and the manager. I’m so happy and want to continue this good form.”

Sir Alex Ferguson is also heaping praise on the Portuguese winger:

“His last three games have been absolutely first class and today was his best. It’s difficult to say why we’re seeing his best form now, but maybe maturity is one reason. He’s 23 now. He’s a very shy boy, and maybe his personality is getting stronger and better for dealing with playing for us every week. Today was an example of that maturity.”

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In the wake of a 3-0 hammering away to a good, but unfancied, Fulham side – there is always going to be scapegoat, excuses and ridiculous claims by fickle fans. Yesterday was a bad day for United, as was the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea and as was the recent 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at home. However, in that time Ferguson’s tactics have been blamed, the performances of certain players have been questioned and our quest for a fourth successful title seem to be slipping away. I’m here to tell you know that the position we find ourselves in now isn’t Ferguson’s fault – not in the slightest.

Last season in the FA Cup at Craven Cottage we beat the Cottagers 4-0 with goals from Tevez (2), Rooney and Park. Looking at our defensive line up that day we had – O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra. Compare that to yesterday – De Laet, Fletcher, Carrick with Evra operating a little further forward. I know its old news, but United had Vidic, Ferdinand, Neville, O’Shea, Evans, Brown and Rafael on the injury list. How on earth can a team be expected to compete at the top level with this type of injury list? Honestly. I outlined some of my earlier thoughts in our forum discussion this morning.

Imagine a Chelsea lineup as follows – Carl Magnay (Youth player), Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole. Yeah I agree – laughable. How about another one? Arsenal’s backline – Rhema Obed (Youth team), Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song, Gael Clichy. Even funnier in my opinion. Lets go a little continental and try every ones favourite dictator inspired club Real Madrid. Daniel Garcia Ortega (does it matter? I could have made the name up for all you know), Xabi Alonso, Lassana Diarra, Marcelo. Again, I hope, point proven. No club could compete at the levels they wish to with this type of injury crisis. Not to mention missing the presence, consistency and ability of those defenders we’ve mentioned, but we’re removing the guile and craft of Carrick from the middle of the park as well the as the industrious running and hounding of Fletcher. Was the performance poor yesterday? Sure it was – but we need to look at the root rather than pointing fat fingers at the greatest manager this world has even seen.

I’ve never been a fickle football fan. I always try and give an honest opinion and view on the game. If I feel we’ve been played off the park, I will say so – as our match reports for the Barcelona and Liverpool games suggested. However, if I feel there has been an injustice – as there was against Porto back in 2004 or more recently against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge – I like to think my opinions are of a consistent nature and most of all, honest. Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager we’ve ever seen. We all know that. But its what he does after these problems that always astounds me. He motivates his side, makes them feel they are better than what they are and I honestly believe United will bounce back over the next few weeks. Having said that we need to get some consistency in defense before we can start to look strong at the back again.

Forget the nonsense of the ‘fear factor’ and the ‘Ronaldo factor’. With the first point – United can beat anyone on their day, as can many top teams, but we haven’t had a good run so far this season, which coincides with our injury concerns. Ferdinand is by far the most worrying. Looking out of sorts for England against Holland, his casual scoop, which led to Bellamy’s goal, was an embarrassing throwback to his early days where his biggest criticism was his concentration. Personally, I don’t think Ferdinand is going backwards or in decline in terms of reading a game. I think that injuries have taken its toll on his large frame and a rest is exactly what he needs. His last game was in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield back in October where he was clearly lacking fitness and being out muscled and paced by an equally unfit Fernando Torres (if you believe the reports).

The Ronaldo factor is a tricky one because expectations need to be managed. Lets look at it from the top. We’ve lost 68 goals in two season from one player and we’ve lost the trickery/pace/inspiration of one of the worlds best players. However, its frustrating to hear whenever United lose that its “because of Ronaldo’s departure”. Nonsense and pretty easy to speculate like that. Take the semi final against Arsenal last season in the European Cup. What I choose to remember about Ronaldo is the beautiful counter attacking goal that he scored at the Emirates. It was quite simply magnificent and my favourite memory from last season. Here we were playing the so called ‘most attractive team’ on their own turf at their own game! Before the match many Gooners were confident of a victory – however in truth, we hammered them – and it could have been more. But look back a week before in the 1-0 victory over Arsenal – I thought Ronaldo was awful. There were groans around the Stretford End when we saw the familiar figure of Ronaldo smacking the turf in despair having gone to ground a little too easy and got nowt from the ref. Of course there were moment of brilliance (I think he hit the bar from miles out) – but you’d expect that from such a talent, however it is narrow minded to assume that Ronaldo would have made any difference in the 3-0 defeat yesterday.

So to conclude – its embarssing to claim that Ferguson needs to address his tactics when we’ve been hit by so many injuries. Fickle fans need to look at themselves and try to manage their own expectations. Fulham are a good side under Roy Hodgson – who has done wonders for them. We need to get all of our defenders back to full fitness, get a consistent run going and get behind the team.

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They may joke about sharing a glass of red win tomorrow as they always have done in previous encounters – but make no mistakes – tomorrow is an enormous game for both teams to make a claim for the strongest team in the land. Fergie and Chelsea’s manager Carlo Ancelotti have met before – when United played Juventus and AC Milan – with the Italian having a better record than the gaffer.

United met Juventus in the April of 1999, having overcome one of the other big three Italian teams in the previous round (Inter Milan). The first round was at Old Trafford and to be honest Juevntus played us off the park – with Zidane, Conte and Davids starring. Snapping at the heels of a strong United midfield – the Turin club took the lead before a late goal from Ryan Giggs gave United some hope – however, having watched United crash out of Europe to Dortmund and Monaco the previous two seasons – lets say I was filled with confidence that we’d make the final.

We all know what followed in Turin and in my opinion it was the finest Manchester United performance i’d ever seen – especially from our skipper. Being the first club to win on Italian soil, having been 2-0 down to a club who had appeared in three of the last Champions League finals was quite simply phenomenal. Ancelotti was never a popular choice for the Old Lady due to his Milan ties and quite simply he was following an impossible task of surpassing Marcello Lippi. As we all know we went on to win the European Cup and Ferguson had outwitted the young coach – however, in time, Ancelotti would get one up on Ferguson.

Fast forward to February 2005 and United were drawn against AC Milan in the last sixteen of the Champions League. Eagerly anticipating the game due to the fact that I’d always seen Milan as one of the true giants of European Football. Remembering players such as Van Basten, Savićević, Baresi and Ruud Gullit – I was really looking forward to seeing how a Manchester United side (that was in transition) would fare against the then six times champions of Europe.

In fairness, we were never in the contest. Roy Carroll produced a howler for Hernan Crespo to score – whilst in the away leg Crespo scored again – this time with a header past the trailing Tim Howard. United were well beaten – and looking at the subs who came on that night – Smith and Fortune – United didn’t really have the strength and depth to compete. Combine this with an on going ankle injury to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and the inexperience of Ronaldo and Rooney – it wasn’t a major surprise that we struggled against a team consisting of Seedorf, Nesta, Cafu and the brilliant Maldini.

I always remember a quote from Ferguson as he watched Milan beat Bayern Munich two years later in the semi final of the competition. We had already booked our place in the semi final and were awaiting the outcome of the second leg in Munich. If memory serves me right – the Germans nicked a 2-2 draw at the San Siro and were slight favourites to venture on. However, Fillipo Inzaghi had other ideas and scored a brace to send the Rossoneri through. The more I think about it – Inzaghi is one of the best goal poachers i’ve ever seen. Terrible technically on the ball – but simply superb in front of goal. I remember watching that game on the TV and thinking to myself ‘he is the worst player on the park’ – before he went on and scored two goals – assisted by the excellent Seedorf. Milan made it through to the semi-finals for a Ferguson vs. Ancelotti round three match.

United against Milan in the spring of 2007 was going to be different from the one two years previous. Gone were the likes of Fortune and Carroll and in were Patrice Evra, Gabriel Henize and a more experienced Wayne Rooney. I honestly thought we had a great chance of reaching the final in Athens – but did have one concern i n my mind – what else did Milan have to play for? They were miles behind in Serie A, out of the domestic cup and simply had all their eggs in one basket, whereas we were fighting it out with Chelsea in the league and FA Cup – something had to give I thought.

United started off with a makeshift defense with O’Shea, Brown, Henize and Evra – but it was Ronaldo who scored with a header. Unfortunately that was Ronaldo’s one and only contribution to the tie as he was overshadowed by the brillian Brazilian Kaka – whom he battled out the Ballon D’or at the end of the season. What followed wouldn’t have looked out of place at a circus. Kaka scored two goals, one a superbly left footed shot beating Van Der Sar with ease – the other a calamity smash from Patrice Evra and serial jester Gabriel Henize – resulting in a one on one for Kaka – which he duly slotted away. The second half saw United fight back – with two Rooney goals – one after a brilliant scoop by Paul Scholes, the other an early shot from the edge at the box right at the depth beating Dida. We had one foot in the final – but the two Kaka goals meant there was little separating the teams going into th game at the Giuseppe Meazza.

What happened in that game – no red wants to remember.  The pouring rain smashing on to the Milanese turf epitomised  the feeling towards the occasion.  Disappointment, embarrassment and the realisation we would not be going to Greece – considering Liverpool at qualified the night before.  However, looking at the facts – United beat Everton 4-2 the weekend previous after a grueling encounter, which saw us fight back from 2-0 down.  Milan on the other hand – rested their entire team against Udinese – in preparation for the match against United.  No excuses – we were the well beaten – but I think the analysis as to why a team lost should go deeper than the one game that decided the match.  Would United have won the League title that season and got to the FA Cup final – both against a superb Chelsea team – if they had put their eggs in one basket?  I doubt it – but it was a learning curve for the next season – which saw both Ferdinand and Vidic playing consistently in the latter stages.

Forgetting the Community shield and concentrating on the major European ties – Ferguson’s record against Ancelotti reads – played 6, won 2, drawn 1 and lost 3.  I don’t think it is a bad record due to the points I have raised within this blog entry – but i’m sure the gaffer will be keen to get one over on Ancelotti, especially considering the pain of the 3-0 defeat.  Ancelotti has brought a decent brand of football to the Bridge after the guidance of the exceptional Guus Hiddink.  Frank Lampard is having a great season and he’s even got Deco playing again.  Joe Cole is good addition to the side – and will want to prove something tomorrow if he gets on.  The 5th of November is usually the night were fireworks go off – however, I expect tomorrow – we’ll see the best of the bunch.

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Sir Alex Ferguson has been involved in some shock signings over the years. Eric Cantona was probably the most famous, but in the free signing of Owen – particularly with Ronaldo saying ‘adios’ – runs the Frenchman close. Fergie was quoted as saying:

“Owen has not been involved and I explained that to him,”

“Owen doesn’t come into the equation because we are trying to get a blend of Berbatov and Rooney, but he will play plenty of games.”

Michael Owen was once one of Europe’s top marksmen scoring goals for fun for both Liverpool and England. Since his move to Real Madrid in 2004 – things have never been the same for Owen and I can’t see them ever touching the heights he reached pre-Madrid. You have to ask yourself, why didn’t a major European club break the bank for Owen when he was available in the summer of 2005?

I’ll tell you why – all top European teams need something more from their main striker than a goal scoring ability. Didier Drogba couldn’t touch Owen in terms of one on one and the runs that Owen makes – but Drogba has so much more to his game. He may be an annoying clown at times but he was, for me, one of the most lethal strikers in the second half of last season – both domestically and in Europe. Michael Owen will never be the main focus point of our attack. He will be mainly used as a substitute and even if we’re losing I wouldn’t object to seeing Macheda being thrown on ahead of him. I think Owen can exploit a team who are chasing a goal and push up – as Birmingham did on the opening day of the season in the last ten minutes, although Owen did manage to fluff his lines.

I agree with Fergie – Berbatov and Rooney are the priority whereas Owen will have to wait his chance to compete with our first choice strikers. Hopefully Owen gets a chance and takes it for United but I do get concerned at the thought that his mind is on getting into the England squad for the World Cup next June.  United first Michael, England second.

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