United’s first away win in the competition since 2003 was marked by excess. The first half was notable for woeful passing (from a midfield that included the usually reliable Scholes and Carrick) and a collective rising of blood pressure from those seated on United’s bench. Misplaced passing, defensive slips and the hostile Benfica crowd combined [...]
Entries from September 2006
September 26, 2006
Benfica v United (preview)
This is what Sir Alex Ferguson said about tonight’s match versus Benfica:
It will be a bloody different result [from last season's 2-1 defeat], believe me about that
As motivational speeches go, this one is likely to come back and bite [...]
September 24, 2006
Reading v United
That was a disaster last night, and I speak not of my efforts with women. United dropped another 2 points and now trail the Champions by 2 points.
Another “Man of the match” performance from Cristiano Ronaldo, capped by a fine strike, was not enough to carry the rest of the team, with Richardson in particular [...]
September 23, 2006
Mark Lawrenson
I don’t like him.
He has a weekly Lawro’s predictions feature on the BBC website. Last week, he made the following predictions:
Lawro’s predictions
Charlton 1-1 Portsmouth
Bolton 2-0 Middlesbrough
Everton 2-1 Wigan
Sheffield United 2-1 Reading
Watford 2-2 Aston Villa
Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
Blackburn 2-1 Man City
Tottenham 2-0 Fulham
West Ham 2-1 Newcastle
Man Utd 1-0 Arsenal
The actual results
Charlton 0-1 Portsmouth
Bolton 0-0 Middlesbrough
Everton 2-2 Wigan
Sheffield [...]
September 21, 2006
It’s been a tough week
It’s been a tough week for the “I could have been a contender” England managers. On Tuesday, Sam Allardyce was implicated in the Panorama Football is a dirty business expose.
Yesterday, former prospective England boss Stuart Pearce led his side out of the League Cup at the first hurdle. The bitters lost to Chesterfield, a team [...]
September 20, 2006
Knut auf dem Berge
Who would have guessed that Big Sam was corrupt? The clever money was on a manager in charge of a South coast club. Last night’s Panorama programme seems to suggest that Sam Allardyce’s future in the game looks to be coming to an end. To be sure, the indictments of three sleazy members of the [...]
September 18, 2006
United v Arsenal
It’s difficult to imagine this fixture without that Midfield Man Mountain. The saying is that no man is bigger than the Club and it’s a truism; but memories of Man of the Match performances against the Gunners still linger on days like this. Who can ever forget Viera being bullied by young Phillip Neville? Thanks [...]
September 17, 2006
The return of Stevie C.
The original Professor of Football well before the import of Arsene Wenger, the astute, studious Steve Coppell (B.A.) is making a welcome and well earned return to the top flight of English football.
Yesterday, his slick Reading side out-passed and out-thought the brawn and, well, more brawn of Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United. They played well enough [...]
September 15, 2006
epilogue
I know that this is supposed to be a big weekend with the Premiership’s Big Four playing each other in a feast of televised potato couching, but I can’t seem to shake off the nightmare of United’s midweek misery. Van der Saar managed to utter the truth – he is Dutch, after all – about [...]
September 14, 2006
United v Celtic (UEFA Champions League)
Ah, what a welcome return to European NightsTM (not to mention the UEFA Champions League). The atmosphere was simply terrific, no doubt buoyed by the 4,000 traveling Celts, and could be felt all the way on the other side of the world.
The match itself lived up to the reputation of European NightsTM, with United and [...]
