Community Shield: Season 2009/2010

Tale of 2 halves, cliche but true. Tale of 2 bad refereeing decisions. Tale of 2 Portugese internationals, Nani and Carvalho.

Fans (or haters) of Cristiano Ronaldo will point to United's current total lact of a target man, a talisman and, in my opinion, a leader. Manchester United fans should not worry about who won the penalty shootout, the key concern in their minds should be this lack of leadership and target man.

Valencia... Is he really ready for the top matches? Is he ready to bear the burden of being a winger for Manchester United who has had for so many years, built their successes on excellent Wing play. Valencia's 2nd half cameo was anything but inspirational and points to a real problem for Manchester United the coming season.

Ben foster, touted as the next England number 1. Did not provide any confidence to the Manchester United Penalty takers, Foster looked to be only a passenger inbetween the posts. The only way Chelsea could have lost the shootout is if Terry slipped on the turf yet again. More worrying is Foster's total lack of confidence in clearing backpasses. Granted, he did connect to some back passes, but Foster's clearances and goal kicks totally lacked any direction and did not come close to giving the attackers any chance to take control of the ball.

Going on the Charity shield's performance, Manchester United fans have much to worry about for the 2009/10 season. Where is the speed, passing, tenacity and drive that we are so used to seeing? Where is the target man the likes we have seen in the past, the Cantonas, Hughes, Yorke, Tevez, Ronaldo? Where is the super sub that great united teams always had? Too Many questions and too little to be inspired. Manchester United - A rather Insipid team at the moment.....

Wigan Vs Man Utd (2008)

It is the time for a new generation, a new crop of young players to give the club its foundations for wonderful attacking football. (A new start to this blog as well) How wonderful also to see Ryan Giggs as the main man in the above picture. 758 games and not out, sorry Bobby, but your record could not have gone to a better man.

Midway through the first half, Rooney was brought down in the area and Ronaldo sent the excellent Kirkland the wrong way and gave United the lead in a difficult game. It was the Bionic Giggsy that made it a foregone conclusion, scoring an "Old-heads" goal in the 81st minute. Rooney's well weighted throughball gave Giggs very little to do but put the ball in the back of the net on this record equaling night.

It remains to be seen who will play in the upcoming champions league final in Moscow. Will it be filled with the experience and guile of people like Giggsy? Or the pace and tenacity of Tevez and Anderson. On thing we know for sure, this man on the right, has all the answers. Question is, who will be able to pick the best 18 players from the squad of 26 fully fit boys in red? It is not a position that anyone would like to be in, but I'm sure, it is a position that Avram Grant would want to be in. Bring on Moscow! Bring on Chelsea!

Man United Vs West Ham United

It is difficult to imagine how much respect Sir Alex Ferguson is giving the relegation battle. To be honest, most of the players fielded by United would be in the starting eleven of most teams in the Premier League. Lets be honest here, the friendship of Sir Alex and his pal, Alan Curbishley was made clear to the world when the latter took over at West Ham. In fact, try to recall the first game that Curbishley managed; The final score was West Ham United 1 - 0 Manchester United. Conspiracy theorists would be quick to try and prove that Sir Alex had his best friend's team at heart, thus his team selection for the night.

Looking at the match statistics would tell a much different story. Manchester United dominated the statistics in all departments. Be it shots on target, attempts on goals or corners, the gulf in class between the two teams was for all to see. That being said, West Ham United took the lead at the stroke of half time. No Conspiracy theorist would be able to paint a theory with that goal in the picture. Carlos Tevez, easily the form player on the Old Trafford pitch, chased a seemingly lost cause, got a very fortunate rebound off a defender and slotted the ball in between Van Der Sar's legs.

Ferguson, seemingly returned to respecting the relegation battle, put on Ronaldo, Giggs and Scholes ten minutes into the second half. Ironically, United's play began to become more sloppy in patches as West Ham began to find their footing. With Mark Noble and Boa Morte becoming more comfortable in the middle of the park, West Ham started to look good value for their lead over the newly crowned Champions. Heroic goal keeping from Robert Green and a valid penalty shout by John O'shea summed up United's day. Final Score West Ham 1 - Manchester United 0. West Ham do the double over Manchester United, winning both home and away. Arsenal the only other team to do that to the Champions. At the end of the day, West Ham stay in the premier league and deservedly so, Manchester United champions and deservedly so.

Bring on season 2007/08!