Authors: Doron and Phil

Follow Doron, Phil and BTP on Twitter

Beyond The Pitch and Stretford-End.com have come together once again to record another podcast, the sixh in the series. We look back at the disappointing result against City; discuss where the club needs to go from here; round up the Reserves and Academy news; as well wonder whether Newcastle will do us any favours.

To listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

Topics covered:

Looking back at City

Where did it all go wrong? The starting team arguably wasn’t right and it was met by the cautiousness of Sir Alex Ferguson. The failure to defend a simple set piece near halftime was disappointingly the difference despite how both sides set up. Perhaps Mancini got it right though, most reflected in the fact that United have only recorded four points in the last four matches whilst City have been playing carefree.

Where to now?

Questions from Facebook and Twitter all asked roughly the same thing – what should the club do now? Clearly United have been somewhat restricted by the Glazer ownership but surely the gaping midfield hole will need some attention this summer, albeit a few summers too late. As a fan, if you oppose the Glazer ownership and want to protest, what can you do?

Reserves and Academy

There’s a strong chance the Reserves could pick up four pieces of silverware this calendar year – find out which final is the latest one they’ve reached. Meanwhile, at Academy level, Andreas Pereira’s work permit has finally come through and he was able to make his debut away at Everton.

The last couple of weeks

With just two rounds of fixtures left in the league, will City hold out or might they slip up at Newcastle? There’s no doubt about the fact that relying on another team to potentially give you a chance of winning the league is a somewhat flat feeling.

Your questions

We’ve answered some of your questions from Facebook and Twitter – keep them coming in for next week so we can give you a shout-out and answer a few more.

Once again, to listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

To listen to the first five podcasts, click here.

Author: Doron

Follow Doron on Twitter

United travelled across Manchester to face rivals, Man City in a potentially title-deciding game. A draw or win would be enough for United but a solitary goal from City captain, Vincent Kompany ensured that it would be a blue Monday. Quite incredibly, it was the first game in three years that United failed to have a shot on target whilst City only managed three in what wasn’t quite the all-action game that many had hoped for.

Here we discuss the talking points of the game and invite Man City fans to join in the discussion below.

The system

There’s little question that lining up in a 4-5-1 was the correct decision. Matching city was important, playing two men in the middle would have seen us overrun, especially given who was available. It would be both naive to think we could go and attack – other sides who’ve played well against City have played in a 4-5-1 or a variation of it; the reality is, their personnel are too strong to try and play anything else against.

Of course, lining up cautiously in big games is nothing new for United recently. Most of our rivals play a variation of a one striker system which begs two questions: 1. Why have United not conformed to current trends in having a 4-5-1 type formation as our primary set-up? 2. Why does Fergie not have faith in our 4-4-2 nor been able to sign the right players to make it work in the big games?

The dilemma, and it’s something of a null point, is that if United lose, Fergie and the formation can’t win. Set up cautiously from the start and the criticism is United are too negative; go too attacking and United have badly misjudged their opposition. That said, I’d prefer the latter – attacking football is, after all, the United way.

The personnel

Having settled on the 4-5-1 system, it needed to be populated with a team that could get a result, a draw being the minimum. Somewhat predictable, Fergie plumped for a combination of experience and tactical discipline. Evans missed out through injury and both Jones and Smalling were selected ahead of Rafael to add a physical presence at the back. The midfield missed Young and Valencia whilst Park was selected to man-mark Yaya Toure with Giggs drifting in from the left. Nani, was used as an out-ball and he’d tirelessly carry the ball into spaces to find minimal support.

It’s easy to be critical of the selection but United were 90 seconds from pulling it off. Kompany’s goal on the stroke of half time forced Fergie into having to change it but for much of that first half, United had been good for a draw – containing pressure. The problem came when in possession – United were just not good enough. Giggs, for all his experience had a passing accuracy of just 74%; Park’s was higher but what he has in accuracy he lacks in creativity; Rooney’s was lower than Giggs’ – a reflection of his isolation and thereby inability to bring others into play well enough. Of the players who started the game on either side, Scholes and Carrick had the best passing accuracy rates but that’s all well as long as there options ahead.

Upon reflection, Fergie was probably too cautious in selecting both Park and Giggs. Valencia or Welbeck should have been starting in place of one of them with potentially Rooney dropping deeper. One can forget all too quickly that Rooney is often one of our most creative players and therefore dropping him deeper and getting him on the ball more is in the interests of the side.

If forced to single out some of the better individual performers, Carrick and Ferdinand would probably be the two. Carrick as ever was reliable, forward thinking and won more tackles than any other player on the pitch – he was United’s best player on a dull night. The overriding issue though is why Fergie moved away from a consistent selection and picked players who’ve not played in so long – Park for example had his last PL start three months ago!

City all too comfy

Defeats, and defeats against City can be accepted as long as United put up a fight. Last night, United lost without fighting, there was so little of the battling spirit that United have shown in the past. Fergie was maybe the only one getting into it as he got irate and into a bust-up with Mancini on the touchline but on the pitch it was all a bit soft.

Failing to have a single shot on target is completely unacceptable – it was way too easy for Man City to be able to sit back and defend having scored. In truth, they hardly tested United either but even so, on the break, the attacked with pace, with numbers and in a direct manner. It’s difficult to pinpoint why there’s been such a lack of fight in the side lately – whether it’s complacency, morale, or just the mentality around the club at the moment, it’s not the United of old.

Mind games and form

It is truly pathetic to look at United’s form in the last four games… just four points won. In a title run-in, that’s a bottle-job. The Wigan result was fair enough – they’re fighting relegation and we were poor; it’s the Everton result that’ll stick out though. Conceding twice late on, throwing away a lead at home is unthinkable. The poor form though coincides with something else too – mind games.

It’s debatable how much mind games really matter, they make the headlines and whether players take note of them or not is somewhat unknown. However, since Mancini’s been claiming that United will win the league his team have been playing a care-free brand of football, as if the pressure was off them – four wins in a row, thirteen goals scored with one goal conceded. By comparison, over the same period, United have just one win, have scored eight, failed to score twice, conceded six with just one clean sheet. Coincidence or not, it would seem that on one hand, the pressure has got to United whilst on the other, it’s taken it off City. Maybe Mr Mancini isn’t quite as foolish as we once thought – that said, even after last night he claims United will win the league bizarrely.

Title gone?

With just two games left to play, one has to wonder if the title is over. Admittedly, United’s points total given the injuries is impressive but having been behind and then not only clawed it back but gone ahead of City on both points and goal difference, it’s sickening to see the hard work thrown away. United’s attitude this season can be summed up by the side’s happiness to accept a win rather than push for more goals – QPR at home for example – goal difference is now seemingly going to be important.

As for what’s to come, United host Swansea and travel to Sunderland – two sides with nothing to play for so it’s feasible to presume maximum points will be taken. City meanwhile travel to Newcastle who are chasing a Champions League spot and host QPR who are battling against relegation. Whilst it would be great to think that one of Newcastle or QPR could take points off City, that seems unlikely – they have momentum now and seem on course to win a first Premier League title. More to the point, relying on another team to slip up in order to win a title seems flawed.

Summary

City regained the lead at the top of the table, albeit on goal difference as a Kompany header on half time was enough for a 1-0 win. Somewhat strangely, it came from a corner – a set piece. Whether the system or the personnel were wrong becomes irrelevant really when a goal is conceded in such a manner.

United’s failure to test Joe Hart will be what most United fans remember – a lack of fight and seemingly, spirit, summed up the past few months and to some extent the past few years even. The United way is to attack and go down trying but Fergie did probably set up in the right way yesterday just with the wrong personnel. He was too conservative in that respect and the players who were selected were only good enough to contain – when United needed a goal City were able to sit back and defend with ease.

All isn’t quite lost yet, with two games to go there could yet be another twist although that seems unlikely. A first trophyless season in eight years is likely to be around the corner – hopefully it’ll be followed by a summer of rebuilding and a couple of signings. City meanwhile have a good team and will no doubt strengthen and further set the pace for other sides to match. The manner of defeat yesterday and recent performances will linger long in the minds of United fans as they wonder what could have been.

Author: Stretford_End

Everton fought back from two goals down to draw an extremely entertaining game with title hopeful’s Manchester United. Jelavic gave the visitors the lead before ex-Evertonian Wayne Rooney scored an equalizer from a superb Nani cross. United took the lead in the second half with a breathtaking Danny Welbeck strike before Nani gave the home side a two goal cushion. Man of the match Marouane Fellaini scored a scintillating volley following decent delivery from Tony Hibbett on the right hand side. Rooney and Welbeck linked upto restore United’s two goal lead before two late strikes, again from Jelavic, and Pienaar gave the visitors a well earned point.

Here we discuss the talking points of a quite brilliant game and, as always, we welcome comments from both sets of supporters.

An amazing game of football
Although United dropped points in the race for title, it is game’s like this that you watch football for. Everton were extremely impressive in the first half, pressing high up the pitch and putting the United backline under pressure. Fellaini was a constant threat (see next Talking Points) all first half and Everton were impressive in possession.

Nani was back to his best, tormenting Everton’s right hand side and put in a superb delivery for Rooney’s first half equalizer. He also scored a delightful goal in the second half, chipping the ball over the outrushing Tim Howard. The Portuguese also won a header against Phil Neville, which fell to Danny Welbeck – who finished superbly.

I seem to recall a superb match against Middlesborough towards the end of the 96/97 season, which finished 3-3 and sometimes you just have to enjoy the spectacle that is presented in front of you. Gary Neville scored on that occasion as well! United and Everton have had some superb matches down the years, with the 4-3 in 2004 standing out and of course, United’s fight back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 in 2007.

For the record, the last time Everton scored four goals at Old Trafford was way back in 1956, when United lost 5-2. What a game of football.

Marouane Fellaini – MOTM
David Moyes claimed the Fellaini was ‘unplayable at times’ and I have to say I agree 100%. The tall Belgian operated in between the lines, just off of Nikica Jelavic, and won around 80% of headers that fell his way. He was strong on the ball to shield from Evans and Ferdinand, whilst he also scored a superb goal to make it 3-2 and get Everton back in the game.

Former Everton striker Duncan Ferguson used to cause United trouble, even scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory back in 2005 to aid Everton’s push for a Champions League place and Fellaini was no different today with this physical strength, finishing and movement – which made him hard to pick up at times. Man of the match for me.

Wayne Rooney is now United’s 4th all time top goalscorer
Wayne Rooney’s brace today puts him ahead of George Best and Dennis Viollet in 4th place of United’s all time top goalscorers. He still has someway to catch Sir Bobby Charlton – who is on 249 goals – but will most probably catch 3rd place Jack Rowley within the next two seasons, providing he stays at Old Trafford. Seems a long time ago when he scored his first goal (a hattrick) against Turkish side Fenerbahce back in 2004. United will need Rooney’s finishing even more come next Monday.

Fine margins and Fergie’s odd (lack of a) substitution
At 4-2 with ten minutes to play, the fact that Evra hit the post should have meant very little for the game’s overall result. Yet, 1 minute and 21 seconds late, Everton had pulled a goal back and would go on to get another. Who’d have thought that Evra’s miss would be such a defining moment?

Mind you, the fact United were attacking for a fifth goal leads onto another point – did Fergie get it wrong today? At 4-2, should he not have brought on another midfielder for a striker, probably, and somewhat harshly, Welbeck. At this stage of the season, getting the points matter and maybe Fergie was a bit too naive in not trying to protect the win. That said, bringing on Jones for Scholes at 4-4 made no sense at all. Jones of course would bring power up against a strong Everton midfield but in terms of trying to get a fifth goal, it was something of a nonsensical change. Anyway, that’s some food for thought…

Disappointing results in title run in
Manchester United 1-1 Middlesborough (2007), Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United (2008), Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Manchester United (1999), Wimbledon 1-0 Manchester United (1994), Southampton 3-1 Manchester United (1996) – what do all these results have in common? They occurred in the last fews games of a title run in where United won the championship. United were obvious favourites before the game to win the match, however Everton played extremely well – even if Sir Alex Ferguson thought they were fortune due to United’s defensive lapse.

There is a still a vast amount of football to be played and United are still in control. One thing that is obvious over the years is that any Ferguson team that disappoints in the previous match will surely show a reaction in the next match. Time and time again Ferguson has picked up his side to put a good performance in the following match.

Match Conclusion
Probably one of the matches of the season. An highly entertaining game, that produced some breathtaking goals. Sir Alex Ferguson will be livid with his Manchester United team, packed full of experience, to throw away a two goal lead in the final eight minutes of the match. Fellaini was the man of the match for me, whilst Luis Nani was United’s top performer of the afternoon. David De Gea didn’t have a chance with any of the Everton goals, whilst Patrice Evra will no doubt be thinking of his effort that smashed back of the woodwork. If the Frenchman had of scored, United would have led 5-2. There are such thin margins in football.

Authors: Doron, Nik and Phil

Follow Doron, Nik, Phil and BTP on Twitter

Beyond The Pitch and Stretford-End.com have come together once again to record another podcast, the fourth in the series. As ever, we look back on recent games and discuss the Reserves and Academy. Regular Stretford-End.com writer, Nik, joins the show this week to discuss referees specifically. You can also hear Rio Ferdinand and Fergie’s thoughts on the QPR game.

To listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

Topics covered:

Looking back at QPR

Understandably, focus was on the Derry-Young incident but we did remember there were other incidents in the game! QPR set up negatively and United did struggle a bit against 10 men.

Refereeing and diving

Lead by Nik, we look at diving and the idea of ‘winning a penalty’ – acknowledging how hard it is for referees to get right and why some players do dive.

Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick

The impact he’s had on the team has been amazing – how has his form helped our title challenge? In fact, is he playing as well as he ever has? And, how come he’s suddenly learnt to tackle?! Meanwhile, has Scholes had an impact on Carrick this season?

Reserves and Academy

A full round-up of results and other news from the players below the first team. An U17 side and an U19 side have been taking part in prestigious youth tournaments abroad – the AEGON Future Cup and The Dallas Cup; both sides made it to the finals but how did they get on? This Friday sees United play in the FA Youth Cup semi final, a second leg tie away at Chelsea – can the young Reds turn around a 2-1 deficit? Player focus this week is on Daehli as he stood out at the Future Cup in Holland – technically he was as good as anyone there, including the Barca players. Meanwhile, Doron picks out Joe Rothwell and Ben Pearson as being key for the U18s.

Looking ahead… Wigan, City and the squad

With Wigan tonight, can we continue our good away form and win at the DW Stadium? Will Fergie rotate and use the squad again – a squad that is arguably the best in the league. Given the momentum is with us and our record at Wigan is so good, we all believe that we’ll get three points. In terms of changes – Hernandez and Giggs may come in for Welbeck and Young – we explain why.

We then get a bit side-tracked, discussing City, the United squad and whether it’s good enough to challenge in Europe. Do we need to sign a squad player or a star?

Bold predictions

You’ll just have to listen to find out what they are!

Once again, to listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

To listen to the first three podcasts, click here.

Author: Doron and Stretford_End

Manchester United beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 at Old Trafford to go eight points clear at the top of the table. Manchester City’s defeat to Arsenal later in the day confirmed that United now have an eight point cushion with just six games to go. QPR had not travelled to United, in the league, since 1995 – when William Prunier graced the Old Trafford turf. United won the game 2-1 with Andy Cole and Ryan Giggs getting on the scoresheet, with Danny Dichio scoring for the visitors. This time round it was Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes who settled the tie for United. Here we discuss the talking points of the game and welcome comments from both United and QPR fans.

Shaun Derry and that penalty
I can’t imagine any red would defend the penalty decision that was given for a challenge on Ashley Young by QPR captain Shaun Derry. Firstly, Young was offside:

First of all, the ‘assistant referee’ is out of position and should be inline with Taiwo (who is near enough in line with Onuoha). He is looking straight across the line and must see that Young is offside. If the decision is given, Young will not be played in by Rooney to win the penalty.

In regard to the penalty, it is irrelevant as QPR should have won a freekick for Ashley Young being in an offside position, however I would argue that this was a big talking point of the whole match due to the decision give the penalty and the subsequent sending off – which ended the match as a spectacle. I think Ashley Young dived for the penalty following minimal contact by Shaun Derry. Derry’s arm is outreached and touches Young’s side:

Young obviously feels the touch and decides to go to ground theatrically to win the penalty:

The penalty is award and Derry is send off. Both poor decisions, but it shouldn’t have got that far as United’s number eighteen was offside when the initial ball was played by Rooney.

Ashley Young wins a penalty
In the minutes that followed Derry’s red card and Rooney’s penalty yesterday, the reaction of former players on Twitter was fascinating. Young was apparently doing what any pro would do and try to gain an advantage for his team by winning a penalty. I can understand that point of view completely but I can’t necessarily agree with it. That said, I don’t think Young dived – to me, a dive is when a player goes down when there is no contact (think Downing vs United earlier this season). What Young did was to ‘go down easily’ having anticipated what was going to happen. Off balance having turned, Young was already starting to fall when Derry did make the tiniest of contact, enough for Young to ensure he went down and Derry was sent off. At the time I described it as “soft” – it could have easily not been given and I doubt many would have been able to complain.

Having given the penalty, the decision to send Derry off was the correct one. In fact, from the referee’s angle even if Derry had made no contact with Young’s shirt whatsoever, it would have looked like he did. Had Young simply fallen because he’d lost balance (nearly did happen), Lee Mason’s line of sight would have still made it look like Derry had done something. Hard to blame Mason or his linesman for this one. Incredibly harsh on QPR and a somewhat unnecessary appeal for a penalty by Young (he was off-balance so would have fallen anyway).

I’m not sure that QPR would have gone on to get anything from the game even with 11 men and without that penalty awarded – Hughes had set them up incredibly negatively and in fact going down to 10 men spurred them on and seemed to make United lose focus.

For me, the real crime yesterday wasn’t the red card or Ashley Young’s poor but successful attempt at winning the penalty, but the linesman’s failure to put his flag up for an offside decision against Young in the build-up. Young, clearly a yard offside was somehow played on by the linesman who, if anything was too far ahead of play, in line with Young rather than the last defender. If he gets that decision correct, the rest doesn’t follow. As it was, a decision wrongly went in our favour to add to the various conspiracy theories.

Paul Scholes
Patrick Vieira thought brining back Paul Scholes was a ‘sign of weakness’. Not too sure I understand bringing back a football genius that should only stop playing when he physically can’t walk anymore is a sign of weakness, but the results since his return against Manchester City in January indicate that it was a great move by Sir Alex Ferguson and Paul Scholes himself. Scholes spoke in the week about how much he enjoys playing compared to coaching and his MOTM performance against QPR backed up that claim.

Check United’s results since his return:

United have won every Premier League game since his return, expect for the 3-3 draw with Chelsea, where United were three goals down and fought back. He has scored in three goals since his return:

There is nothing more to say about Paul Scholes. His vision, finishing and knack of keeping the ball has been well document over the past twenty years. He may not be the box to box player that we once adored in in the mid to late 90s and well into the 21st century, but his influence and experience has been vital to United in the second half of the season.

8 points clear
Following United’s win over QPR, City went to Arsenal knowing a defeat would make their challenge of catching United even harder. City came up against a side hungry to regain third and Arsenal put in a brilliant performance to win 1-0 thanks to a late Arteta strike – Balotelli was shown a red card late on (not quite karma for a failure to send him off earlier in the game though). It means that with six games left to play, United need to win four of them to guarantee the title will stay in the red half of Manchester.

Next up is Wigan away midweek followed by Villa then Everton at home. Should United take maximum points from those three games they’d be a minimum of 11 points ahead of City when they kick off away to Wolves on the 22nd April knowing a failure to win their would gift United the title. With City starting to lose their heads and momentum, it’s looking more and more likely that either United will win the league at Eastlands on the 30th April or will be given a guard of honour by City as the already-crowned champions.

That said, this title is far from won yet, the games coming up in the next seven days could see United kick off against Everton just two points clear. Nevertheless, the swing of power has been incredible – United had made up more than 11 points over City and even now have a better goal difference having been more than 10 goals worse off than them. It’s a huge achievement for Fergie and the squad, helped by a tightened defence that’s kept 6 clean sheets in the last 8 home games compared to just 2 clean sheets in the first 8 home league games.

Finally, it’s starting to become a case of ‘when will United win it?’ as opposed to ‘will United win it?’.

Match Conclusion
The sending off ruined the game and ended the match as a contest. United would have most probably won the game over the course of the ninety minutes, but got a massive helping hand from the officials on the day. Wayne Rooney converted the penalty well and United went onto dominate the match, as you would have expected with QPR being down to ten men. Danny Welbeck and Rafael missed sitters, although Paddy Kenny should be pleased with his impressive performance on the day. Valencia, who has been in fine form of late, didn’t get passed Taiwo too many times – but Scholes and Carrick, the latter unlucky not to convert a thunderous drive in the second half, were top class.

Manchester United travel to Wigan Athletic on Wednesday in their next Premier League tie.

Authors: Doron and Phil

Follow Doron, Phil and BTP on Twitter

Beyond The Pitch and Stretford-End.com have come together once again to record another podcast, the third in the series. Topics discussed range from post-match discussions to the Reserves to potential transfer business. You can also hear the thoughts of Fergie and Jonny Evans on the Fulham game.

To listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

Topics covered:

Looking back at Fulham

With the podcast recorded soon after the final whistle on Monday night we look back on what was a torturous 90 minutes. Despite the fact Fulham should have had a penalty, once again Carrick and Evans shone. Finally, we admire some of the players Fulham have at their disposal.

What’s going on at City?

For the second week running, we wonder if cracks are starting to appear over at City. They drew at Stoke, a hard place to go – has Tevez’s return worked so far? Do City have the mentality to go all the way?

Jonny Evans

Is he playing himself into a first choice centre back for next year and if so, who partners him – Rio or Vidic? Are we starting to see potential United captain material from Jonny?

Patrice Evra

He’s still good going forwards but defensively this season he’s had some dodgy moments. Does Evra need to adapt his game like Rio then, and choose when he has to go forwards rather than always bombing on?

Reserves and Academy

A full round-up of results and other news from the players below the first team; including a review of the players out on loan. What does the future for Macheda hold too? Has his bad luck and injuries hindered his chances at United? Ritchie De Laet is back at United, might he move on this summer? At long last, the truth about Ravel Morrison’s departure has come out as Fergie let one slip. Finally, which players can we look out for and is Michael Keane a contender for Reserve player of the year?

Transfer business and Wayne Rooney

It’s starting to look like our squad is good enough to compete at the top level in England but where do we need to strengthen, with a particular emphasis on Europe. With various players likely to leave, what kind of player do we sign?

Wayne Rooney’s clearly crucial to the way United play. We discuss whether we should look to sign someone who’ll play behind Rooney, allowing him to stay up front in arguably his best role – an out-and-out striker. Rooney’s future role is surely key to our transfer business.

Once again, to listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

To listen to the first two podcasts, click here.

Author: Bricki

Follow Bricki on Twitter

The weekend saw United travel to the Midlands to take on the Wolves and I was one of the lucky few able to get a ticket and support the team. As a way to spend the time on the coach constructively (well more constructively than reading the Sunday papers) I decided to pen a little diary of the day…

I was originally unsuccessful in the ballot for the game (like most games this season) until I got a phone call Wednesday teatime saying they had got some returns and was I still interested in going?

Well the Pope is a Catholic and I’m sure bears still crap in the woods so of course I was still interested. The only catch was that I had to pick up my ticket from the Old Trafford before 1pm on Saturday.

Working and living on the other side of Manchester during the week meant the only time I would be able to pick up the ticket would be Saturday morning before I went to referee my usual youth football.

As I arrived at Old Trafford on the Saturday morning I saw the words that strike the fear of God into any self respecting human being…

‘X FACTOR CONTESTANTS – THIS WAY’

In a scene reminiscent of Jurassic Park, as I approached the ground the water bottle in my car started to shake as the beats of the music rocked the ground and the car.

In a perfect example of Glazernomics the car park was charging the contestants £10 each to park up, this made me smile. Due to the vibrations on the floor that the heavy bass of some popular music was creating I was in and out of Old Trafford as quickly as possible. On leaving I could hear the MC trying to gee up the crowd for some shots they were filming by saying ‘Manchester is the best place we’ve been!’ (How long before we get the stadium announcer trying this on a matchday?)

Next morning I arrived at Old Trafford at 9:45am ready to board the coach for a 10:00am departure. The last coach I had taken to an away game was to Norwich which left at 6:00am so I should be refreshed and ready to go for this trip in comparison. This was not the case however, as I had been unable to sleep and stayed up all night watching Red Dwarf.

As I sat on the coach the remnants of the previous days X Factor visitors were still around. This got me thinking as to what songs United players would audition with…

Tom Cleverley with a Johnny Cash version of ‘Hurt’?

Nani in a Michael Jackson tribute of ‘Bad’ to fit in with his recent form?

At this point I regained my common sense and thought this was something that is a twitter # tag, not something for me to be contemplating on less than 3 hours sleep!

Whereas the Norwich coach was packed and I ended up sat next to a guy that can only be described as suffering from personal hygiene issues, this time the coach was only two thirds full leaving me to acquire the whole back row for myself (school habits never die).

It seems these coaches pull in an interesting mix of fans that are going to the games. You get the clear regulars who seem to do this trip frequently; these can be seen in the way they act as if they own the coach, the younger fans usually making their first trips away and the more ‘sensible’ fans that are not part of a supporters club.

As I go to away games on my own and am not really into the matchday culture of having a drink etc I like getting these coaches as you can easily keep yourself to yourself.

The discussions that people were having as we set off were dominated by the back pages, Muamba, Rooney and Glasgow Celtic moving south.

One ‘fan’ on the coach was very clearly a ‘Top Red’ – in his late 40s and decked out head to toe in the finest MUFC merchandise. From his ‘Champions 19’ home shirt with Champions League badges on the arms, to his club tracksuit and baseball cap covered in badges. He was the pinnacle of what every true Man United fan aspires to be. He seemed to be in charge of starting the topics of discussion for the front half of the coach who seemed to enjoy nothing better than sucking the life out of football by analysing it to the Nth degree (copyright @Herzogschild for that line).

The first discussion was a simple starter for ten – who do you think will start today?

‘Top Red’ was first with his team, he couldn’t see Young and Nani not starting today along with Rooney and Berbatov up front to compete against the strong Wolves backline. In midfield he wanted Cleverley and Scholes as he doesn’t rate Carrick and Jones at RB. Like I said… ‘Top Red’

Sat a few rows behind ‘Top Red’ were two guys who I christened Statler and Waldorf, they were a very pessimistic pair who seemed to find a problem with every United player mentioned (unfortunately I was unable to find out their Twitter names). They also got into discussion about Wigan and Bolton’s problems and reckoned they needed young managers like Brendan Rogers to improve them. I wanted to mention that Owen Coyle and Roberto Martinez were not exactly collecting their pensions yet but thought better of it.

The other notable person on the coach was a lad sat in front of me who appeared to be only 16/17 years old and travelling to his first away game (the phone calls to his parents every 15 minutes gave this away) He seemed to have taken the Dom Joly, loud person on the phone shtick to new levels as he was the loudest person on the phone I’ve ever seen. The pinnacle of his conversations came with a discussion about an incident he’d witnessed at an Ice Hockey game the previous night, apparently the Plexiglas around the rink had smashed in a collision and part of it had been embedded in a lad’s leg. The detail he then gave on the blood and gore was not what was required whilst I was trying to eat.

We arrived at the ground not long after midday and got off the coach for a pre-game wander. Molineux is currently undergoing redevelopment and this is reflected in the amount of construction and mess around the ground. With not that much to see outside (other than the Asda next door) I decided to get into the ground and see where I would be sat/stood.

Normally you get the away fans tucked into a corner or generally plonked somewhere no one else would want to sit; however, I’m not sure if it was to do with one stand being half finished, but we had the whole bottom tier of the Steve Bull stand (is this like Old Trafford having a Ruud Van Nistelrooy stand?). Having the away fans right next to the pitch seems to allow the away team to hear its support better so is detrimental to the home team, no?

Anyway I had a tremendous seat on the halfway line giving a top view of both goals and as the players came out to warm up they jogged towards us in a manner you could only describe as ‘casual’. The player who stands out by a mile is the beast of a man Antonio Valencia, as he faced us I gave a shout towards him, and, in a shrieking female boyband fan kinda way, I waved at him. He looked up and gave a small wave in my general direction, causing me to make a sound so high pitched I never thought I was capable of! It’s fair to say that this acknowledgement from Tony V made me swoon and I needed to sit down for a minute or two.

The United lads filled up our stand and the game kicked off with Anton Ferdinand stood behind me (apparently watches Rio any chance he can). A few songs were sung and a couple of United fans behind me insisted on calling Rooney a ‘fat scouse bastard’, you’re never totally forgiven, Wayne. Rafael provided the highlight of the half with a sliding tackle that resulted in his left short leg basically ending up stuck-up his arse in a ‘Short Shorts’ style. His reluctance to sort this wardrobe malfunction out ended up with the United fans singing ‘Rafa, Rafa sort your shorts’. When he finally did sort them out he proceeded to have his worst patch of the game… related?

Half time was over and with the game all but decided due to the quick fire double before the break, the second half was more about winding up the Wolves fans and vice versa. Chants of ‘Just like watching Bilbao/West Brom’ were exchanged and the sight of the Wolves fans trying to start a Mexican Wave summed up the feelings of the home fans. Amusingly, United were mocked for only scoring 5 goals as well! The feelings of anger towards the Wolves board was clear to see and hear; however, from a personal point of view I don’t see how chanting like this really helps the home team.

The final whistle went and the United players clapped the fans and we clapped back, a very efficient performance against poor opposition. We made the short walk back to the coach and I reclaimed my back row for some much needed sleep (up all night watching Red Dwarf, if you remember). As the lad in front of me boarded the coach you would think we’d just won the league, same could be said for ‘Top Red’ who claimed he’d got the team right and it was always going to be a big score.

I asked him but he declined to tell me which United blog he wrote for…

On the way back I struggled to get much sleep as the lad in front was phoning every number on his phone to say how good a day it had been. I love how football can still make people feel this way and ‘Top Red’ was giving running commentary on the Liverpool v Stoke game he was listening to. He was convinced that Stoke would win… then Liverpool scored the winner. The highlight of the trip back to Old Trafford though was the conversation between Statler and Waldorf as we passed a lorry with a picture of cheese on toast across the side. They started to discuss what the right way to have cheese on toast was. Waldorf was convinced that you shred the cheese and place it under the grill to melt whilst Statler enjoyed the cheese unmelted on the toast. The young lad piped up at this time and agreed that you couldn’t melt the cheese, he’d tried this with Dairylea and it just doesn’t work.

Luckily at this point the coach pulled into Old Trafford and I was able to get to my car, making the drive home to sleep.

I didn’t go straight to sleep however; thanks to Statler and Waldorf I had some cheese on toast. It was melted into the image of the day’s messiah… Antonio Valencia.

Author: Rob

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Manchester United’s European (mis)adventure is over for another year. It’s been an exciting, frustrating time, full of goals from all sides, inducing heart attacks and binge drinking among fans of all ages. Both legs of the Athletic Bilbao tie have seen our boys take almighty thrashings, masked by flatteringly close scorelines. Notwithstanding the inevitable caveats – it was “only” the Europa League (nonsense), Champions League complacency (inexcusable), the young players needing to learn the European game (agreed) – everyone will agree that the results and performances we’ve seen from the side have been unusually wobbly. Here are some of my thoughts on last night’s game, and the campaign in general.

Las Grandes Derrotas

Isn’t it strange how slack United have been in Europe this season? The past few seasons have seen some highly disciplined, efficient – some would say dull – displays in UEFA-branded competitions, but those adjectives become nonsense when describing this year’s performances on the continent.

After the first leg defeat against Athletic, I sat wallowing for United and exulting in a classic performance by the Basques. After a few glasses of whisky, I remembered something interesting: since the 1999 Champions League win, United’s most decisive European defeats have come at the hands of Spanish opposition: the 3-2 to Real Madrid in 2000, the 3-1 at the Bernabeu in 2003, the 2-0 and 3-1 final defeats to Barcelona, and now the 3-2 and 2-1 losses against Bilbao. Contrast that with the club’s recent record against Italian clubs – especially the (underrated) 2008 dismissal of Roma, the 2009 tie against Inter and the 2010 thrashing of Milan – and it’s really quite something. During the game, I imagined the boss admitting in a fictional post-match interview: “I have no idea how to play the Spanish teams.”

One glass later, I remembered this quote from Vicente del Bosque in 2003, which was quite telling: “If I had to pick I’d prefer to face Barcelona or Manchester United. Between those two, it would be the English side because they play good football and they let you play. That gives you more chances.”

Too Open for Business

In all of those great Spanish defeats, United were remarkably open – as they have been at many points during this season. In all of them, apart from last night, they played a 4-4-2 – and last night, Park Ji-Sung and Ryan Giggs made up two of the central midfield three. I don’t want to pick on him, but, Giggs played central midfield in all of those last four defeats. Despite the brilliant passes he comes up with on occasion, Giggsy in midfield is a huge problem: he has the low percentages and minimal defensive awareness of a trequartista, but has been playing in a position where those two attributes are most valuable. As I wrote a few weeks ago, he’s the ultimate footballing example of the 80/20 rule. In the Premier League, where giveaways are common and most aren’t punished, such inefficiency gets overlooked – which is how Steven Gerrard manages to get praise in England for his passing. Big European nights are less forgiving of such waywardness.

Our games this season have looked like a return to the kamikaze style of the Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs era. It stands in huge contrast to the fundamentally counterattacking side of 2006-09, which did so well in Europe. In that team, the midfield spent lots of time sitting deep and absorbing pressure – in 2008, the 2-0 win at Roma and both legs of the Barcelona tie stand out – then hitting opponents at startling pace on the break through Ronaldo and his brilliant supporting cast. The end-to-end group games at Old Trafford set pulses racing, and in the Europa only the “boring” 2-0 win at Ajax bore any resemblance to the recently ruthless, savvy United. We’ve looked vulnerable to long balls over the top, and strong, skilful strikers like Oscar Cardozo and Fernando Llorente have had lots of joy playing against us.

Zonal Marking made a point about English clubs looking foolish in Europe this season, by refusing to adopt the underdog role in “big” games, attacking too aggressively, and leaving themselves hopelessly vulnerable at the back. While the side’s big game record has been great in the league*, United have been made to pay for that kind of attitude in Europe. We managed to let leads slip at home against Ajax, (Athletic) Bilbao, Benfica and Basel, losing crucial points against the latter two, and losing the games outright against the former two. For a side that was recently so good at notching up European home wins**, that is an incredible stat.

But it’s not (only) about tactics…

Of course, tactical explanations never give the whole story. To reduce football to its barest terms, football is a game of two fundamentals: it is a game of running, and a game of technique. Tactics are a matter of how the manager gets the best out of these two facets, given the players available and the opposition facing his side.

Pep Guardiola, who knows a thing or two about this kind of stuff, said: “People talk about tactics, but when you look at it, tactics are just players. You change things so that the team can get the most out of the skills they have to offer, but you don’t go any further than that. When it comes to tactics you have to think about what the opposition does and the players who can hurt you.”

There can be no question that Athletic and Marcelo Bielsa beat United and Sir Alex at the ‘sub-games’ of this tie. In a lot of ways, they were the most difficult club United could’ve come up against: they had size and strength, like Newcastle; pressed intensely to win the ball back early, as Barcelona do; and they got at us by combining tricky dribbling (Muniain, Susaeta, de Marcos… Iraola!) with scintillating one-touch passing (the whole team, really). They played a symphony at fearsome speed and with enthralling unity.

The lethargy shown by United in the Europa League games should come as no surprise. The effects of a long season and a horrendous run of injuries must show themselves at some point, especially when The Simpsons is showing at 6pm Thursdays. The nerves and frailty showed by Jones, Smalling, Cleverley, Pogba and the other European novices won’t last forever. As much as I admire and defend him, Michael Carrick wasn’t near his best in this European campaign, after being our best Champions League performer last season. Park’s performances this season have been dreadful, even in the big games where he’s known for “doing a job.” Despite his goals, Rooney’s overall performances haven’t been as disciplined as in the Ronaldo era, as overwhelming as in 2009/10, or as inspiring as in last season’s latter stages.

Conclusion

Congratulations to our Europa League conquerors, and I’m sure many of us would join Sir Alex in wishing them well – Zorionak Athletic. It’s been a disappointing season for us in Europe – played 10, won 3, lost 4. At home, we’ve only managed to beat Otelul Galati. We’ve been knocked out. Twice. On the bright side, this won’t happen again.

In the very short term, there is absolutely no reason to panic about the league. Although Rooney and Rafael apparently limped through the mixed zone after the game, lots of players are coming back to fitness. It’ll be great to have Nani and Valencia back and fresh for the final stretch of games (fingers crossed); Paul Scholes played zero minutes of the Athletic tie. It’s (mostly) one game a week from here on in. Tom Cleverley got through 90 minutes, and it’s just the kind of game he would’ve needed to get his fitness back. In the longer view, our talented youngsters acquired huge European experience, sponsored by Heineken and SEAT. They’ll improve. Jonny Evans is growing into a magnificent central defender. This was a far, far more entertaining than our 2004/05 or 2005/06 campaigns. A big midfield signing will come in the summer.

We’ll be back.

* – Apart from the Game Which We Will Never Speak Of Again.

** – United have the record for consecutive Champions League home wins (12), and went through 6 CL home games in 2007/08 without conceding a single goal.

Authors: Doron and Phil

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After Beyond The Pitch and Stretford-End.com recorded their first podcast last week, here follows the second! Topics discussed range from post-match discussions to the Reserves to the atmosphere at games.

To listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

Topics covered:

Paul Pogba

For the second week running Pogba features on the podcast. His return to the first team coupled with a second league appearance for the club suggest a new contract may now be imminent and any rumours of a departure are wide of the mark.

Title race

What’s going on at City? Are cracks starting to appear and do they really want Tevez back in their side?

Player futures

Does Anderson’s latest injury mean his career at United could be coming to an end? Will Berbatov move on this summer? (The pod was recorded on Tuesday, a scarily accurate prediction comes on the pod given Fergie’s comments on Wednesday). What does the future hold for Darren Fletcher – could he be offered a coaching role next year too?

What kind of midfielder should United look at this summer?

There’s no doubting it’s hard to identify the right central midfielder but after links to Eden Hazard, what kind of central player should the club be looking at?

Reserves and Academy

Matty James returns to the Reserves after a long lay-off as they go top of the Northern Reserve league.

The approach to Bilbao vs. the approach to Wolves

Should one game be prioritised over the other? To what extent can United get away with a ‘changed’ team against Bilbao?

Old Trafford singing section

There’s a proposal for the second tier of the Stretford End to be made into a singing section. Is this a good or a bad idea? Moreover, how does this sit in terms of modern day fan culture?

In the future, expect to hear other members of Stretford-End.com joining both Phil and Doron on the podcast as well as plenty of special guests

Once again, to listen to the podcast, click on this link. It is available to listen to or download on iTunes at this link.

To listen to the first podcast, click here.

Authors: Doron and Nik

Follow Doron and Nik on Twitter

United travelled to Norwich knowing that City had won the day before. Rooney didn’t travel but United were able to call upon Ryan Giggs for the 900th time in his United career. An attacking line up saw a 4-4-2 away from home, a far and welcome cry from the 4-5-1 system that has been seen all too often in the past 18 months.

Here we discuss the talking points of the game and invite Norwich fans to join in the discussion below.

Little Pea problems

Javier Hernandez isn’t quite having a ‘Torres’ of a season, but the Mexican’s form is starting to worry both Sir Alex and fans alike. He had a sensational debut season for the Reds, notching important goals versus the likes of Stoke, West Brom and of course, Chelsea. However this season, the pacey number 14 seems to be finding the terrain a little harder to manipulate; and yesterday was a case in point as he struggled to assert any influence of any note – having just one shot on goal and generally looking like a player who has just risen from the Primera Division de Mexico.

Indeed the centre forward was very lucky to start the game, despite Rooney’s absence, given the erratic form he has displayed in recent games. Contrast his passing contribution to that of Welbeck’s (albeit that Hernandez was substituted on 59 minutes) versus the Canaries (see chalkboard below), we can immediately see the issue at hand; if United aren’t able to have the freedom of the midfield, and thus the freedom to release Hernandez who likes to play on the shoulder of the last defender, he isn’t able to adapt accordingly, and his inability to keep possession and play the right ball in deeper positions is telling – hence the inclusion of the more articulate (and equally pacey) Welbeck in ahead of him in the last ten games or so.

Hernandez isn’t quite at the point of emulating Egyptian striker Amr Zaki, who clearly was a ‘one-season wonder’, and he has scored 8 goals in 21 appearances in a stop-start season thus far; but nonetheless his form is a worry as we enter that pivotal squeaky bum time. As the Blizzard t-shirt slogan goes, ‘Goals are overrated’, and when measuring the contribution of Chicharito, Ferguson seems acutely aware of his overall influence and will continue to select accordingly. Until he can re-discover his confidence and become the player we know again, he will be used predominantly against the lower placed teams at Old Trafford. (What is of note, is that without Rooney, Hernandez tends to prefer a fairly central and right starting position on the field; perhaps he could have greater success by starting from a left side position, thus better able to come in on his natural foot, whilst simultaneously allowing Nani and Evra to overlap and create in the final third.) Luckily for Hernandez then, he has already won over the fans at United, because they are not known for their patience. Just ask Berbatov.

De Gea’s adjusting

Recent games have seen De Gea lauded for excellent saves that have arguably helped to win games for United. Norwich once again saw him nominated as the United social media faithful’s man of the match, and rightly so. However we saw a very different ‘Big Dave’ on this occasion.

Despite initial concerns about his goalkeeping ability – errors were to be expected – patience was preached. The recent injury to Lindegaard maybe was a blessing in disguise for David – after some time as second choice keeper he was thrust back in and hasn’t looked back.

A physical challenge was expected at Norwich – lots of crosses for target-man, Grant Holt. The tone was set early on though with De Gea coming for two crosses inside the opening five minutes and catching the ball confidently. It wasn’t that he was kept busy throughout the game but the three or four saves he had to make were executed superbly.

What was both impressive and encouraging though was his commandment of the penalty area. From corners and crossing his decision making in choosing when to catch and when to punch was spot on and his handling was more than assured. He looked like a confident goalkeeper – potentially freed by the lack of challenge to his spot from the injured Lindegard. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s now had a few games behind the solid Evans-Ferdinand partnership – familiarity can only help.

At last, United had an all-rounded flawless (if you’re being picky, his kicking could have been better but the pitch was bobbly) performance from David. After a tricky seven months he’s finally settling and beginning to win United points.

Control and move

The return of Scholes has somewhat reduced the responsibility on Carrick who was having to both anchor, defend and set the tempo of United’s play. Scholes now does the latter task and has taken on the playmaker role whilst Carrick has been freed to shield the back four and link play. The beauty of having two controlling, ball-playing central midfielders is that we can at last use them to our advantage because the movement ahead of them is superb.

Hernandez may have had a poor game as already has been touched upon but his movement as ever was superb; dragging defenders all over the place. Behind him, Danny Welbeck has become a genuine top quality striker. Not only is Danny’s work-rate superb but his ability to find pockets of space seems to come naturally to him. His constant dropping deep off Hernandez gave Scholes a good target to find. Upon receiving the ball though he looks to move it on as soon as possible before spinning and making a forward run. Important goals and work rate are great but at 21, Danny’s a clever footballer who’s no doubt benefiting from having Scholes and Carrick behind him.

The fascinating thing about Scholes being partnered with Carrick is the obvious trust between them. Since his return in January, Scholes seems to be getting into the final third of the pitch more than he has done for the past few years. He knows he can make his trademark late runs into the box because Carrick, as ever, is disciplined and sitting deep covering.

As seen for the opening goal (above), Scholes’ late run into the box was timed perfectly and in the background, there’s Carrick sitting in space to cover any Norwich clearance or break-away. It’s not a fluke either, the same pattern was seen for Scholes’ goal against Bolton and his header that he should have scored against Liverpool.

The control and move pattern that the trio of Carrick, Scholes and Welbeck have is a fascinating partnership which can only become more dangerous with the return of Rooney.

The record breaker

It was his 500th Premier League start as well as his 900th appearance. Starting on the left just like the old days, Giggs drifted inside throughout the game, linking up with Welbeck particularly well. As recent games have gone for him, he made a few errors and gave the ball away but he still is making the key difference in games.

It could have been any of four moments in the second half that did it – the dink through to Welbeck to score (well, miss); the effort he hit the bar with; the perfect cross that Welbeck somehow failed to meet; but ultimately it was the very last one – the late run and smart finish at the back post in the 92nd minute. Lost in the euphoria post-goal was the recognition of how good the ball in from Young was or how well timed and finished Giggs’ run and attempt were.

As Stewart Gardner said in the MUTV commentary, “who writes his scripts?” – it couldn’t have been a more perfect way to cap his 900th appearance. The celebrations were wild, Jones, Evans, Ferdinand and Welbeck went mental in front of the away fans whilst Giggs looked prepared to whack his shirt off and swing it around his head again. Fantastic scenes, the grand old master is still doing it.

United more susceptible in the last ten minutes?!

A bit of a bizarre one but statistically, United are more dangerous at the start of games than at the end. This season United have scored 21% of their goals in the last ten minutes yet they’ve conceded 23% of goals in that same time frame. Compare that with the start, they’ve scored 10% of their goals then but only conceded 5% then.

Maybe it’s to do with lack of concentration or complacency but it’s not necessarily a statistic one would have thought to associate with United. Grant Holt’s superb strike for Norwich is just one of those this season that’s been scored late on – fortunately United found it easy to go up a gear and get the crucial second goal to win the game.

Summary

Paul Lambert deserves a lot of credit for his side’s performance, and also because of his astute tactical change 25 minutes into the game, and subsequently a change in personnel at half-time (reverting to the diamond in midfield) which allowed Norwich the ascendancy in the game. United had started with a steely panache with Scholes and Carrick once again coming to the fore. The back line seemed to carry forward their confidence from the Liverpool game, with Rio leading the way, calm in possession and alert to any danger posed by Holt and Jackson. However, Holt’s turn and shot, reminiscent of Welbeck’s stunner versus City at Eastlands, was due reward for some lax finishing on United’s part, and very harsh on man of the match De Gea who was otherwise exemplary.

Fergie will be happy with the progress of Nani, who seems to be gradually finding his match fitness, and assisted yet another goal; Welbeck’s movement (if not his finishing) was once again superb and Giggs, as in the games versus Liverpool and Chelsea displayed a calmness of mind and the leadership of the great Cantona at such a pivotal moment – scoring the last-minute winner in what was his 900th appearance for Manchester United, at a time when City thought they had edged closer to the league title the media so desperately wants to award her.