Manchester Utd

The Premier league is in full swing and now the unexpected first couple of results are out of the way, you always have surprises at the beginning of a season, but now the teams are settling down the cream begins to rise to the top.

And this season promises to be a cracker with an unbeaten Chelsea looking very solid playing some good football, a little lucky against Stoke yesterday managing to get a result in the very late stages of a tough game. Liverpool have managed to get a couple of results under there belts to after a not so good start.

But the best news as far as I am concerned is about my own team Manchester Utd, after a Luke warm start by their very high standards the Champions have started to turn on the style, despite the massive gap left by the departure of Christiano Ronaldo who left in  a 80 million pound deal to go to Real Madrid.

The way a ten man Utd destroyed a Spurs side yesterday was awesome to watch, Spurs who had had their best ever start to a season winning their first four games 5-1, 2-1,5-1, 2-1,  but they were no match for the Red Devils when play like they can., there were so many performances around the pitch that it is difficult to pick a man of the match, though Darren Fletcher may have just edged it from the fantastic Wayne Rooney who is rapidly turning into the player everyone knew he could be.

So after all the pundits saying this could be the closest title fight in years and if I’m honest I thought so to, it turns out the same two teams will fight it  out again.I didn’t think Utd would get into the flow so easily after the disruption of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez leaving, but as usual the master Tactician  Sir Alex Ferguson has carried on business as usual, so here we go a two horse race between Manchester Utd and Chelsea, and everyone else can fight for the scraps, actually I can name the first 3 places add Man City into third , Mark Hughes looks to have got it  spot on with his buys and they will be hard to beat this season.

DurdensView Tags: Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, League, Champions

Manchester Utd

The Doom mongers are circling over Old Trafford like vultures trying to create a story where I really don’t see one, this talk of financial catastrophe at the Theatre of Dreams is being blown out of proportion, this morning on a call in radio sports show I heard it said that the balance of power in Manchester has now shifted to Manchester City.

What a load of rubbish, Utd sit second in the premier league a single point behind Chelsea, are in the semi final of the league cup and are in the last 16 of the Champions league.

Season tickets are sold out and there is a waiting list, add to that the fact that they play to a full house every single home game, I’m not even going to go into the realms of world wide merchandising or foreign TV rights.

As for the supposed servicing of the debt, Utd are up to date on all payments, and are currently raising a 500 million pound bond issue which I believe will succeed, that money will be used to re-finance the existing debt at a more reasonable rate of interest.

So before anybody starts writing Utd of I suggest they wait till the end of the season and then lets see where the power in Manchester lies.

DurdensView Tags: Manchester Utd

What a Winker

The expected will he wont he farce regarding Ronaldo and Real Madrid has started earlier than usual. I was hoping it would be nearer to the beginning of the new season before we were all bored senseless with it. As a Manchester Utd fan I say let him go he is a great player possibly in the worlds top 3. But Manchester Utd are a great club definitely in the top 3 and don't deserve to be treated like this. If he thinks the grass is greener in Spain rather than trying to persuade him to stay Sir Alex should be helping him pack. Rumours of secret meetings and deals have surfaced yet again. Florentino Perez the Madrid President claims the price has been agreed A mind boggling Eighty Five million pounds. If this is true we should take the money. Then like a cheating husband Ronaldo on his return to Old Trafford should find his kit thrown out on to the lawn and the locks changed. Or he could do the grown up and honourable thing and make an unequivocal statement to the effect Utd have made him what he is after plucking him from obscurity and turning him into a global superstar with all the fame wealth that entails and that he is staying to honour his contract. So put up or shut up we are all sick of it.

Man Utd the Real Deal

Interesting how this season there have been so many twists already in the fight for the premier league title, following that nonsense last week of the power shift in Manchester because Manchester City managed to string together 3 wins, we now have  Ancellotti the Chelsea manager claiming they wont lose another game this season because they thrashed Sunderland 7-2.

Lets look at both these claims just a little closer, yes City did win four on the spin but look who the four were Sunderland, Stoke, Wolves and Blackburn who are sitting 13th 11th 17th and 12th respectively in the league, hardly world beaters, yesterday they played Everton who sit 10th and City were beaten 2-0.

As for Chelsea’s performance against a woeful Sunderland on Saturday, on the surface a great performance by the blues but on closer inspection I would question how a team so poor that they let in 7, are able to score two of their own, so maybe Chelsea not so brilliant as Sunderland so rubbish.

The media are quick to put labels on, but football isn’t a game that you can judge on one or two games its about consistency, you will always have hiccups along the way but at the end of a long season the cream usually rises to the top, that’s why the best team in England for the last few years have been Manchester Utd, they are consistent winners, the real deal, and on course for their fourth consecutive title.

Take note Mancini and Ancellotti one swallow does not make a summer.

DurdensView Tags: Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City

Boy-Chester Utd

Manchester Utd face Wolfsburg tonight with 15 players out through injury, they are so desperate for players to make up the 11 starters that they have called up the Chief Executives son.

Oliver Gill is the son of David Gill who has been in charge at Utd for a number of years, even seasoned Utd fans will struggle with the names of some of the players out there tonight.

Bookies have Utd at 12/5 to get a result there and finish top of the group.  I still fancy them to win.

Come on the Reds.

Premier League

Spurs top of the premier league, who could have thought it, I think this season will be one of the closest title fights in the short history of the premier  League, and don’t be surprised to see a new top four.

I know  common sense dictates that it is to early to write any teams of, but I don’t think Liverpool will hold on to top four status this year, I did not see the second game against Stoke which they won 4-0 but I understand from reports that Stoke were exceptionally poor, however I did watch the Spurs game and I will say I was underwhelmed by the Scousers.

Man City look like they may gatecrash the party at the top after spending 200 million pounds they really cant do anything else, Chelsea look very strong and they seem to have a extra toughness about them this year, they have won all three games played so far this season coming from behind each time, this new diamond formation Ancelloti has them playing looks very effective and they can only get better as the season goes on.

As for the current holders of the title and my team Manchester Utd, I don’t think they will have things their own way, and I will reserve judgement on their chances of a record breaking four consecutive titles until a few more games have been played.

Though it will be difficult to adjust to a post Ronaldo formation, the team was built around him for the past few years, I have been reasonably impressed with Utd’s start this year though the blip against Burnley was unexpected, we are playing without arguably the Leagues best central defensive partnership Ferdinand and Vidic due to injury’s.

Up front I am confident Owen will prove to be a good buy, Rooney is proven quality, and Berbatov looked brilliant, Giggs looks to have a new lease of life and was inspirational in the first game, against Burnley Utd created lots of chances and were unable to convert the Burnley keeper also had an exceptional night, as The manager Ferguson pointed out I would be more concerned if we were not creating the chances rather than the fact we could not convert chances on the night.

So sit back and enjoy the next 8 months and lets see how close my prediction will be. This is my top six in order and it is in print now so I cant change it, come April next year I will be proclaimed the best pundit of all time or the most deluded only time will tell.

Man Utd (Champions)

Chelsea

Man City

Arsenal 

Spurs

Liverpool

DurdensView Tags: Premier League, Rooney, Giggs, Ferguson, Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs

The Red Army

Manchester Utd stormed to the top of the table yesterday with the shock result of the season so far with Wigan Humbling Chelsea 3-1, Utd strolled to a comfortable 2-0 win over Stoke, this is ominous for the rest of the premiership the previous three seasons that Utd have won the title they have started of slowly and have had to come from behind.

Once the Red Devils hit the top they are notoriously difficult to unseat, so it would appear the season is over. (only kidding) but it will very tough for Utd to lose from such a good start, taking into account the European game last week they have won 7 straight games and are looking better and better, so much for missing Ronaldo.

Once this team get used to playing with this new found flexibility and not catering to the wings and Ronaldo who knows how much better they can get, and with Darren Fletcher already in contention for player of the year title number 11 in the premier league and our 4th consecutive title looks like a certainty.

DurdensView Tags: Utd, Chelsea, League

Money Money Money

"It's not about money its about football" these are Carlos Tevez's word's after Manchester Utd withdrew their contract offer on Friday night, Tevez is now free to talk to other clubs. Who does he think he is kidding, this all about cash and only cash, it's likely now that he will end up at Utd rival's Man City, who have reportedly offered a basic salary of £145,000 per week, he wont be playing champions league football, in fact not any foreign football, it will be the following season at least before City could break into Europe, as for them becoming a top side and breaking into the exclusive top four spot, City need first to become top six getting past Everton and Villa before taking on the big boys. It is rare to find loyalty amongst top flight footballers these days, their are a few exceptions, Notably Giggs and Scholes at Utd, Terry and lampard at Chelsea, and Gerrard at Liverpool. but for the main they are all mercenaries. I don't condemn anyone for moving on to a more lucrative contract, only be honest about it, spare us the fake sincerity. There are rumours that Chelsea are also interested, and could still come with a late bid, if Tevez really is about football he will go to the London club who can offer big European nights, lets see where he goes.

Utd shop at Wigan

As a lifelong Manchester Utd fan I have had a fantastic last dozen years or so, emerging from the shadow of the great Liverpool side of the 70's and early eighty's, the red army have flown the flag for British football with a mostly unchallenged supremacy, Arsenal and Chelsea threatened briefly but have been seen of by the master. This continued success has all been due to the brilliance of the manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and I for one have never seriously questioned his judgement before, any manager that spends as much time at one club will along the way make some dubious buys, Sebastian Veron is one that comes to mind, Eric Djemba Djemba another, I could go on but you see my point. Having sworn my allegiance to Fergie I have to take exception to our latest proposed buy, reports suggest that we are replacing Ronaldo with the Wigan winger Valencia, I am sure that he is a good footballer and could go on to become a great player, but having just lost arguably the greatest ever player to wear the Utd shirt we can and should do better than sign a player from Wigan. Are the years catching up with Sir Alex, after all he is almost 70, or does the great man know something we mortals don't.

The Blues Have The Blues

Chelsea have been banned from signing any players for the next two transfer windows, after being found guilty of inducing a player to quit his contract, in this case Gael kakuta from Lens back in 2007.

Along with steep fines for the both the club and the player Fifa also banned Kakuta, 18, a skilful left-winger who had been named in Chelsea's Champions League squad, from taking part in official matches for four months

At first glance this does seem a harsh punishment, but when you look closer at the Chelsea policy of signing young players you see that something has to be done, This policy will save  many if not hundreds of millions of pounds in transfer fee’s for Chelsea in the years to come, by snapping up talent for peanuts at an early age  Chelsea look to produce a conveyor belt of talent in the future, and even if the player does not mature to a standard good enough for the Blues they would still have a future in football and would have a sell on value. just fining a club with Chelsea’s wealth would have zero effect but this will bite deep.

Gervais Martel, the Lens president, said “The player was under contract with us, and they came and stole him away, Chelsea think they are immune from  following the rules they contacted the player when he wasn't even 16 and while he was  contracted to our training group, he had been with us from the age of eight.

Kakuta is a fantastically gifted left winger, who was already at the tender age of 17 in the full Champions League squad for Chelsea this season, having just watched some clips of the lad in action http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2621362/Youre-a-bunch-of-thieves.html I can see why the Blues were so keen to secure his services, this is definitely a superstar for the future.

This type of punishment however  is not unprecedented recently Fifa punished Switzerland's FC Sion for a similar offence the club was told it could not sign players until the 2010 off-season. This was punishment for signing Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary in 2008 before his deal with Al-Ahly had expired.

My own team Manchester Utd could have similar problems in the very near future over their actions in recruiting French under 16 Captain Pogba from Le Havre in France last month. Utd stand accused of giving large sums of money to the youngster’s parents to get them to persuade their son to sign for the League Champions.

United  deny the accusations but could face the same charges as Chelsea did over Kakuta. The Champions claimed they were within their rights to sign the player, as he had not signed any legally binding Le Havre contract. A United spokesman “ We have nothing to fear everything has been done within the UEFA guidelines.

The case is still to be heard.

DurdensView Tags: Kakuta, Chelsea, Fifa, Ban, Utd, Pogba

Crunch Time For Rafa

It’s crunch time for Liverpool and Raphael Benitez today, if they lose at home to Manchester Utd it wont be just the 3 points they will mourn, this result could be the defining moment in Liverpool's season and Rafa’s future at the club.

As I have said many times before Liverpool will never win a title under Benitez, to qualify that further, this current Liverpool squad could not win a title under any Manager, the quality is not there, also to many of their players are lightweights in term of Physique, to easily out muscled when the going gets tough.

A lot of the media especially in the North West are still calling for backing for the hapless manager, but lets look a little closer at Rafa, he has been there around five years when he took over Liverpool were a comfortable top four side, no real threat in terms of the title but they had a chance, roll the clock forward a few years and 250 million pounds spent, and they look to be dropping out of the top 4 and to steal a quote from a TV show, “Have advanced no further than an asthmatic ant carrying some heavy shopping” with that kind of money spent Liverpool are still only a two man team if Gerrard and Torres are out they cant play, and to be brutally honest they are not brilliant with those two in.

The buck has to stop somewhere and it is with Rafa, so lets hope Utd hurt them good today so we can retire Benitez.

DurdensView Tags: Liverpool, Rafa

John Terry -Sack Him

I have been saying for ages that John Terry is the wrong man to  lead England, my bias is not because he plays for Chelsea and I am a Manchester Utd fan, but rather the calibre of the man.

Terry it is revealed has been having an affair with the girlfriend of his best friend and England colleague Wayne Bridge, how can he command the respect of his team mates after this revelation, Bridge who is a very popular member of the squad is said to be distraught and is considering his international future.

Why should he consider his future its Terry that should consider his future, an unwritten code between the players indeed all blokes is that you don’t mess with your friends wives/girlfriends Terry has broken that  code in spectacular style,  Bridges girlfriend Vanessa was also the best friend of his own wife Toni.

Whilst I don’t doubt that he is a decent player I have never subscribed to the superstar tag,  Terry became a Superstar overnight by virtue of his wallet due to the ridiculous wages he commands at Chelsea because of the size of Abramovitch’s wallet rather than his ability.

Cast your minds back to the horrendous events of 9/11, Terry's response was to drop his trousers and moon the grieving Americans at Heathrow airport while they waited for news of their loved ones in a VIP area. At the time some called that high jinx, I found it totally unacceptable and that showed me what kind of man he was.

Not surprising what he is like when you look at his family, His father a drug dealer and mother a shoplifter, now I know you cant judge children by the sins of their fathers but Terry has more than enough “form” on his own, he has cheated on his wife many times and was recently in the news for sneaking anybody prepared to stump up ten grand a time to behind the scenes tours of Stamford Bridge (not sure why anyone would pay that amount for that).

According to newspaper reports a lot of  players both at Chelsea and for England are unhappy with Terry’s conduct, it will be interesting to see if Terry plays today or is dropped as I suspect he will be, the Captains armband should be taken of him both at Chelsea and for his Country, in fact I predict he will leave Chelsea at the end of the season, I wont speculate as to where he will end up, because I couldn’t care less.

DurdensView Tags: John Terry, Wayne Brige, Chelsea

Football Fever

Roll on August 15th, this date is significant because it’s the day the new football season kicks of (excuse the pun). it has only been a number of weeks since the old season finished but it feels like years. And its not just the football that I crave, I also miss the banter that goes along with it, good natured teasing and abuse amongst friends and family is as much a part of the season as the football itself. Facebook traffic must be down at least 50%, and  phone company profits dramatically reduced, as texting is almost non existent in the close season amongst my peers. I have enjoyed the Twenty20  cricket tremendously, but did not receive a single text commenting on it  for the  duration of the competition, contrast to a football match involving my team The mighty Manchester Utd when I could easily recieve 20/30 texts through a match, rising to 50 if we lost. Still seven weeks to go, how will I survive.

Ronaldo

I know it was  only a  pre season friendly and the result does not mean anything but Real Madrid played Shamrock  Rovers last night in Ireland and the eighty million pound man Ronaldo had a stinker, he was marked out of the game by  a Shamrock defence that I wont even bother to name because  unless you are related to any of them you would not recognise any of the names.  Madrid eventually scored in the 87th minute to scrape a 1-0 win. Just to put the opposition into context Ronaldo earns in 10 minutes what the Shamrock team  combined earn in a week. The Portuguese winger/striker missed a succession of free kicks and appeared way of the pace. Manchester Utd target before he elected to go to  Madrid Karim Benzema scored the only goal. I bet Fergusons cocoa tasted sweet last night.

Woe is Liverpool

As  a Manchester Utd fan I take great pleasure from Liverpool's misfortunes, I know that all teams have bad patches, but its hard to feel sorry for the scousers when their problems are self inflicted and by that I mean their failure to dump their manager.

How much more humiliation can this once great club take, its only November and their season is already a mess, they are relying tonight on another team to make sure they have a chance to stay in the Champions league.

Should Lyon fail to take any points from their meeting with Fiorentina tonight, Liverpool will be out of Europe’s most prestigious club competition, regardless of how they fare away to Debrecen. They will then be left to try to improve their position in the Barclays Premier League, in which they lie seventh, 13 points behind Chelsea, the leaders, after 13 matches.

This after their hapless manager Benitez yet again claimed “this was their year” he does still appear to have some support from the Liverpool fans I think its about a 50/50 split on whether they want him to stay, it wont be 50/50 tomorrow if they crash out of Europe tonight.

Come on Fiorentina

DurdensView Tags: Benitez, Europa