Re: FFS, give the man a chance!!

When Michael Owen was a scouser and used to love them and this, that, yada yada, we all hated him. Agreed. But now, the man is a Utd player. FACHT.

To quote William Wordsworth-"Let the dead past bury it's dead!". That is true. Follow the quote. What has happened has happened and don't let it affect you anymore. This is the present and in the present, Manchester United are a club without Carlos Tevez or Cristiano Ronaldo. Nothing we can do about those two. Ronaldo always wanted to leave and in his second season Tevez was never happy playing second fiddle to Berbatov. So let's forget them.

Michael Owen was a fantastic player. A proven goal-scorer. Sure, he ain't too great these days but the goal-scorer tag never left him. His technique was always good and he was always a great Centre forward to have a in a team if you're looking for goals.

I admit he was a true scouser once, but he joined us on his own accord and said he wanted to. Great that is, we got a scouser converted!! :-D

The brochure thing was always silly and it still does seem so. I thought that was a sign of desperation, but really, let's just forget all that crap. He's a Utd player now and it's high time we gave him our 100% backing.

He always has done well with some quality midfielders in the side, be it with England or Liverpool. Newcastle didn't have that quality in midfield capable of creating chances. Hence he never really got his game going even when he was fit. We have Carrick, Scholesy and Anderson to provide creativity from the center. Valencia or Nani can do it from wider areas. Hence let's give the lad a chance and let him show us what he can still do.

Here he is, in training. A few snapshots-

Re: Ribery to Liverpool? WTF?

This is oficially the craziest news that's come out this transfer season. Ribery to Liverpool? WHAT? When the hell have they been able to afford a player who has a 80 million pound price tag on him, set by Bayern Munich?

Actually I would have let this go on a normal day. But I saw that it was odds on he'd join Liverpool, this was sort of necessary. Now the only player who'd arguably fetch them around 40 million is Fernando Torres and I do not think they would wanna sell Torres. Xabi Alonso would probably get them around 30 million from the circus but then again, not quite enough unless they are both sold! :D

Ribery would not work in the system that Liverpool deploy unless Alonso plays week-in-week-out which is NOT possible under the great Rafa's rotation policy. Ribery is the type that needs a great midfield passer to exist or a good wing back to back him up. Bayern had Lahm and France didn't have anyone so Ribery worked well for Bayern but not so for France.

He has also personally mentioned that he doesn't want to play in England because of the weather there so I think a move to Anfield can be ruled out for the time being. He also mentioned if he left it would only be to Real Madrid A.K.A the circus :P

Re: Circus in Town!! And Hypocrite Blatter:

Circus act in town fellas! Real MADrid have unveiled Florentino Perez as president of the goddamn club and now he's acting as if he owns the right to every big player in the planet. Kaka signed. Ronaldo signed. Benzema also signed. The circus act has had it's first three scalps.
Now let me review those signings-

• Ricardo Kaka: I must admit, I was surprised with his decision. He never struck me as the type that would leave AC Milan for bucks. He never struck me as the type who'd join any club for money. Then I realised, if it was money he wanted he would go to Man City. Then in his interview, he mentioned, in fine English, that money was not the motive. So I understood. It was just another great player's ambition, to move to that mad house. It was his dream and he chose Madrid. Understandable, especially since the club he played for lost it's manager.
• Cristiano Ronaldo: The CUNT. He left. He always wanted to. But this time, he didn't even ask to leave! Thus the move struck to me as a surprise. One fine day, I am watching SportsCentre Asia and I see we have accepted a 80 million quid bid for Ronaldo! But he seems to be happy to go there. And both of the 2 have been unveiled in front of large crowds at the Bernebeu.

• Karim Benzema: Utd went for him. His team mate said United were very close to singing him. But no. He also leaves for MADrid insisting it is his dream. Lyon got a good replacement in Lisandro Lopez, good for them. But Benzema is screwing his career. Any player who still has some potential to show should come to Man Utd or Arsenal, definitely not Real Madrid. His fault and hopefully he will realize his mistake soon enough.

Getting to my other point, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA. The man had the balls to say English clubs were spending too much when we heard of Man City's outrageous bid for Kaka. Now MADrid have spent nearly 200 million euros and he doesn't say a thing, nuh uh. This is stupid. You can't honestly have such hypocrites for FIFA President! Just because he is president of FIFA he thinks he can do whatever the hell that he wants.

Until Next Time,
Yours Truly,
Shishir

Re: Poor Newcastle

As you most probably saw, the Magpies are going down after a 16 year long stay in the Premier League courtesy of their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa from a Damien Duff Own Goal. The Own goal was rather unfortunate but there is no denying that the deserved to loose the game as they were simply awful. And David Edgar will now miss the first game of next seasons Championship! :D

The magpies, TBH, have been simply woeful this season. 7 wins out of 38 games speak for themselves. Mike Ashley ruined it. Never showed enough confidence in Keegs. Then he sells Milner right under his eyes. So Keegan quits. Then walks in Joe Kinnear who won a couple of games, had a heart attack and it was over for him for the season.

Then comes the sensational bit. Shearer is signed manager and that too on April the 1st!! :P Everyone thought this was sensational, he'd guide the team to success and blah blah. But he couldn't do anything. He won just 1 game in charge throughout his season and in the end he had to bare the sight of his poor Magpies being relegated from the Premiership.

It's not Shearer the great's fault. It's not the players fault as well. It's Mike Ashley's fault. He deserves all the credit for them getting relegated. Chopping around managers all the time, being a nuisance. He should sell the club for all he's worth.

Sad to see Newcastle go down, hope they come up immediately!!

Re: The Relegation Dogfight

The Relegation Dogfight has never been this close apart from probably the 06-07 season or maybe when West Brom survived coming in as the bottom team in 05. This time it is Boro, Newcastle, Hull and Sunderland who could be relegated.



Newcastle are on 34 points and are 18th in the table. Hull are on 35 points and are 17th. Boro have a measly 32 points and are 19th. Sunderland have 36 points and are in 16th place.



Newcastle this weekend travel to Birmingham to face a dispirited and free falling Aston Villa at Villa Park. Newcastle need a win there and hope Hull do not beat Man Utd because they have a worse goal difference than Newcastle and they need to beat Utd to improve on that. Villa are in 6th, a point behind Everton who are in 5th. Villa would want to battle for that 5th place and get it ahead of Everton who will travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham who can seal the Europa League with a point seeing that Tottenham will travel to Anfield.



Meanwhile, a point for Sunderland and they could be safe, depending on Hull's result. If Hull draw and Newcastle draw, Sunderland are safe. Altogether, they need a better result than Hull to stay up. Even if they don't get that they could well survive. Them winning would be tough because they are visiting Stamford Bridge at the weekend where Chelsea have not lost under Guus Hiddink. Chances of Sunderland getting a point are almost zero unless Hiddink plans to rest players for the FA Cup final where he wouldn't want it to become a Fuck-Up final!



Boro meanwhile travel to Upton Park in London to face West Ham United who are no more aiming for that Europa League spot as they are 5 points behind Fulham who currently occupy the 7th Spot. So West Ham have nothing to play for and Boro could well be confident of getting a good result there. Boro have been a case of misfiring guns this season, like Newcastle. Let's see if they can get the result needed.

Overall my predictions for the games is-

• Hull 1-1 Manchester United
• Sunderland 0-2 Chelsea
• Aston Villa 1-2 Newcastle
• West Ham 2-1 Middlesbrough

The Newcastle game is really following my heart because I don't want the Geordies to be relegated :D

Well, if this happens, we will see Middlesbrough and Hull go down with West Brom into the Championship. Sunderland will finish 17th and Newcastle 16th.

Adios-

Shish

Utd Vs Hull - A Preview:

I'm back, and this time I will preview the season finale against Hull.
Utd have already won the title. The Red Devils have absolutely nothing to aim for in the league apart from probably the 90 point margin which we are only 3 points behind.
Hull City on the other hand are fighting for their lives in the Premier League. They sit 1 point ahead of the Magpies in 18th. A win would secure their premier league status. If they lose and if Newcastle draw their game, Hull are going down. If Newcastle also lose and if Boro get a 2 better goal difference than the margin Hull lose by, Hull will go down with Newcastle leaving Boro safe. So Hull have all to play for this Sunday at the Kingston Communications Stadium

To Be Honest, I'd like to have seen Manucho play against us this weekend but that is sort of impossible because he is on loan from Man Utd and you can't play against your employees, can you :D

Apart from Manucho, they have Daniel Cousin who can play as their target man. Cousin, if you remember was the man who dealt the killer blow at the Emirates Stadium when Hull won 2-1 against Arsenal there. No denying Cousin's quality(Note- Cousin is pronounced as Kooh-zaahn) Then they have their fast winger/attacking midfielder Geovanni who has rather a history of scoring against United. He scored in Utd's 4-3 win over Hull earlier in the season, scoring the third for Hull from the penalty spot. I think Cousin and Geovanni are their men to watch

United on the other hand don't lack match winners but it's very likely that Sir Alex will play a weakened reserve cum youth team against Hull as he will have one eye on the Champions league final which is only going to be 3 days later. The young guns will get the chance to prove themselves in the last day of the season against a spirited yet class-less Hull side(Exactly the opposite of Newcastle).

Utd will have the likes of Welbeck, Kiko Macheda, Darron Gibson, James Chester, Rafael Da Silva, Fabio Da Silva, Richard Eckersley all available for selection. Those mentioned players formed the back bone of the reserve team. Now if it happens like Jamie Reeves said a week ago- "Utd could play their reserve side and they'd still beat Hull" it is a job well done for those youngsters.

Probable Line Ups-

• Hull:Myhill, Ricketts, Turner, Kilbane, Dawson, Boateng, Garcia, Geovanni, Halmoisi, Cousin and Fagan
• Utd: Kuszczak, Simpson, Fabio, Ferdinand, Neville, Nani, Martin, Gibson, Fletcher, Welbeck and Macheda

The game will most definitely be an open, exciting game with two teams probably evenly matched going for it all. Hull have an excellent chance of beating our reserve team as they have the fighting spirit to say the least. But our reserves also will wanna prove a point to the gaffer that they can step up to the challenge and play for the first team. I predict a scored draw, maybe 2-2. A Man Utd win by 3-2 is also possible.

That's done, will post again soon

Re: Road To Rome Easier, but not Done:

Well, we did totally outclass Arsenal at Old Trafford but we only took a 1-0 lead through that too from all people from John O'Shea. But I guarantee any gooner or fellow Manc, the job is not done yet. 1-0 is a very narrow lead and Arsenal are very good at the Emirates Stadium. I'm afraid we won't have it easy at all. Lemme tell you why-

• First of All, Robin van Persie returns for Arsenal and he had missed the first leg due to injury. Well, that's something to be scared of. RVP is their top assister this season and has been playing very well. Arshavin can't play is a big boost though. Clichy is still unfit and I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Shitanuel E'boo'ue continues at LB for them. But Kieran Gibbs is the likely candidate because the name of the LB at Pompey says it all :D

Rio Ferdinand meanwhile, returns for Man Utd who would need him a lot. Jonny Evans starting would have scared me a lot I must admit! Evra didn't train and that's a big worry for me. I can't see Sheasy handling Theo Walcott. Hope Evra rested from training was just a precaution and nothing serious. Wes Brown meanwhile, could not return for this game as he sat out training as well for Utd.
For Man Utd, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Patrice Evra are all on 2 Yellow Cards. Arsenal have Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby on 2 YC's. I would really worry about Wazza getting booked so I do hope that Fergie deploys his unmistakable talent up front with Dimitar Berbatov. Tevez getting booked I'm not worried about. That lad doesn't have a temper at all. Pat is also a worry because we don't have a good enough back up LB if we go through. Just hope Wazza doesn't get booked.
Overall I predict a very tight game at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal certainly will go for a win but we won't let them get past us. We have a good attack and I certainly think we can score and win the tie!
Possible Line-Ups:

• Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Silvestre, Gibbs, Walcott, Fabregas, Song, Nasri, van Persie and Adebayor
• Manchester United: van Der Sar, O'Shea, Vidic, R.Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Berbatov.

I'm not too sure of Man Utd's line up but I'm confident Arsenal will line up like that. I predict a 1-1 draw or Man Utd to win 2-1.

GLORY GLORY MAN UTD!!

Re: Striker Problem!

Geez, first it's midfield and now it's strikers, when will these things ever end!

First, Berbatov gets injured and is ruled out and then Rooney comes on for him, and goes off with a red card damn it! Well, Berbatov is out for 2 more weeks with that ankle injury but then again, we do have Tevez. Should see if he and Rooney can combine again, like last season and win a few games with big scorelines. If that's the case, we can afford to rotate him and Berba.

Against Villa, I'd pick Giggsy to start as a second striker and Welbeck making a sub appearance alongside a cameo by Macheda. Whatever it is, I think Utd have the quality to win against an under-performing Villa side. Tevez can win games for sure, have to rely on the little man for the time-being, until Rooney returns

The Premier League Title:

As we all know, this year, the Premier League Title is going down to the wire, exactly like last season. This time also, it's Man Utd who are leading the race, from front, by 1 point, from Liverpool. Last season's main title contenders, Chelsea, are falling off the pace, and after their loss to Tottenham, it looks as if they are finished at the moment. 4 points off the top, and also with Utd having a game in hand, it could prove to be crucial for Man Utd, that Chelsea are a rather old team.

Liverpool, a fantastic 2 weeks it's been for them. First with the crushing of Real Madrid, and then Manchester United at Old Trafford. Villa were crushed 5-0 at Anfield as well. But that hardly surprised me, as Villa were on a very bad run as it is. But Martin O'Neill always has bad runs in March, so he could cause some problems for Utd, in April, as they aren't so bad then.
The reasons why Utd will win the title-

• Utd have the best squad depth in the Premier League, especially in Centre-midfield. Scholes, Fletcher, Giggs, Anderson, Carrick and Hargreaves(albeit injured)
• Rooney-He is the best striker in the Premier League, in my opinion, even better than Torres. Rooney was the only spark in the games against Fulham and Liverpool, and he is always consistent.

• Leaders: There are quite a few leaders in the squad, especially Ryan Giggs, who has won the league title 10 times, and Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, both 7 times. Rooney is a leader in his own right as well.

With all the reasons I showed right now, it should be clear that I'm tipping Utd to win the League title again, Liverpool coming second.


LIVERPOOL'S CHANCES:
A few weeks back, I'd have rated Liverpool as having zero chances of winning the league title, but boy, how much can 2 weeks change eh? Now they are just a point behind, albeit a game behind as well. But, the international break. It has come at the absolutely wrong time for them. They are with the momentum now, and if Torres or Gerrard come back with injuries, they're done for. Because those 2 players are the only players who can influence the game so much for them.
Liverpool, I still don't think will win the title, but I think they will surrender with a 4 point deficit. I predict they will draw their game at Fulham and at home to Arsenal and that they will the remaining games. Utd will draw at Wigan and somewhere else, but will win the rest of the games. Chelsea will finish 3rd, a point ahead of Arsenal and Villa will 5th, 7 behind the gunners.
Yours Truly,
Shish.