CSKA Moscow vs MUFC (CL Group)

The Good : Well we qualified, and that’s what really counts doesn’t it ?

The Bad : As much as I love him, I’m going to have to call out Mikey Owen. Two golden chances early and he misses them (yeah yeah I know, he netted United’s first and was a key aspect in moving the ball up the field…), but while I didn’t read through the entire brochure, I’m pretty sure the word “finisher” was listed often. Owen needs to find his old, pre-persistent-bad-knee-syndrome form, and prove to all of the united faithful that he was, in fact, the steal of the transfer market.

and The Ugly : Our Defense. Apparently Rio wasn’t the only one who the to-be-named aliens messed with. I don’t want to sit here and take anything away from the CSKA Moscow attackers, but god damn were they able to run free. The third goal came off of a header that was un contested following a free kick. I haven’t seen defending that poor since I watched myself (a born and raised striker) attempt to play center-back.

And of course it’s this hasn’t been an isolated incident. Look at the other weekend’s 2-0 loss to L’pool. Did they outplay us? Sure. Did they deserve to win? Well that’s debatable seeing as how I despise everything about them, but at the end of the day they took advantage of our lapses in defense.

…but I am not here to simply draw on the negatives, as what kind of “un-biased” writer would I be. In the second half (ignoring the pre-Rooney time) United kicked it into another gear. Granted we all know CSKA was trying to hold the lead, but if you are going to give United that kind of possession, we are going to score. And score we did, Scholes with a beauty of a header to level, and then Valencia knocking one in off a defender (which I still am convinced he meant to do from the start). My biggest worry as that as much as I hate the idea that United “need” Rooney on the field to be productive offensively…it’s starting to look more and more like that. Taylor alluded to it earlier, that we need someone the team can gather around, not as a Slave-esque “one man show”, but rather a leader. And I truly believe Wazza is that guy. He works harder than any other attacker on the squad *AHEM TAKE NOTES BERBATOV COUGH* and creates opportunities often.

Of course I digress there, moving on…

The Clash of the Titans (MUFC vs Chelsea)

After Moscow, United had another challenge in facing Roman Abrahimovich’s money Chelsea. If any of you ask any of my friends here in the states, they would all say my biggest worry coming into this fixture was our defense, combined with Didier Drogba’s disgustingly good form. But god damn, was I am impressed with our resolve. We featured a classic SAF “away-big-four formation”

VDS

O’Shea Brown Evans Evra

Fletcher Carrick Anderson Valencia

Giggs Rooney

in a sudo-4-5-1 formation, with Rooney playing mostly a possession position up front. Now, I’m going to be very vocal here about United personnel. I have very little faith in Anderson. I have not seen enough product from him to warrant a first-team position. Don’t get me wrong, he has a lot of talent, but once Hargreaves gets his new knees in working condition, I want to see him started over him. In addition, Valencia. Antonio, Antonio, Antonio. I could spend all day how I am not sold on him, but I won’t. I will say I want to see a lot of growth before I am convinced he is our new winger. ANYWAY…

…I’m sure you all know how the match finished, a 1-0 loss due to a heading finish by Chelsea captain John “The Brave One” Terry. Now it looks like Terry somehow managed to lose a defender. Watching the replay, you can see he lost his defender (Wes Brown) because Drogba pulled him to the ground. Convenient. At any rate the goal was awarded and United were not able to recover.

Man of the Match award, easily goes to Wes Brown. Despite the goal, he was charged with the task of marking Drogba. Need I mention again a “form-of-his-life” Drogba. And not only did Brown mark him, he shut him down. The only memorable thing from Drogba the entire game was this:

(btw, Johnny Evans is officially one of my new favorite players of all time for this).

In summary, these past two games were rough. While one was  a shining example of United’s resolve, the other showed that we have a lot of ground to make up if we want to make it four in a row. Chelsea are five points clear, but luckily for us, it is early in the season. And, to try and ease the pain, let’s all remember one thing. United are arguably the best end-of-season team in the world. We have historically come into form right around December. With that in mind, I leave you with images of our winning 2008 EPL Champions:

Crazy, crazy shit.

Simply put, they were utterly superb. Equally simply put, we didn’t turn up.

So please excuse me if this is short but I can’t go into this right now, I’m going to drown my sorrows. All I can say is that Barcelona were magnificent and I can’t remember a time when a team so much deserved to win a trophy.

They are worthy champions. Congratulations.

What can I say? Absolutely stunning match so far. Fast-paced football, great one-touch passing (mostly from Barcelona). My 3-0 prediction of a United win is well out the window. But I can’t argue. United did dominate the first eight minutes, they passed it convincingly, pressured the Barca back four and looked dangerous, so dangerous that Pique (little bastard) had to block a Park attempt after just two minutes. But Barca scored eight minutes in through Eto’o with their first attack, and have grown ever since. They settled and have controlled the game for large portions. Messi has nestled into a more central role than many expected and has done very well, as has the talisman that is Iniesta. Ronaldo has been United’s best player in my view. He’s already had five or six attempts but it appears that he’s trying to do it all himself; shooting when more viable passing options are available. We all said it would come down to the midfield battle and so far Carrick, Anderson and Park have been incredibly ineffective. Poor passes, no defensive help and simply bad play have only added to Barca’s momentum. Vidic and VDS, too, have looked rather shaky but honestly, I think the whole team was shocked by Barca’s goal, coming during United domination, like it did. There has only been one real negative for me, that being that I feel that Pique should have been sent off for a foul on Ronaldo. Pique was the last man and completely blocked Ronnie off. But to the ref’s credit, it may have looked to him that The Yaya would get back to cover, but from the replay he wouldn’t have.

Whatever happens in the second half, it’s going to be an unbelievable second period. Both sides are going for it and it’s showing with beautiful football. So c’mon United, show Barca why you are the European champions!

As you have probably seen, or may not have, Taylor and I did a mammoth preview yesterday. If that hasn’t whetted your appetite for tonight’s match buildup I’ve been talking to Isaiah from the Barcelona Offside over the past few days to try and get a die-hard Barca fan’s view on the Champions League Final. So sit back, relax and listen to the other side of the argument as you read Isaiah rather unsurprisingly profess his love for Yaya whilst dismantling many of my misguided (read drunk) questions.

1. Barca are missing most of their backline for the Final, will this effect them much considering their attacking game? And what measures should they take to prevent United from taking advantage?

Missing Rafa Márquez, Eric Abidal, and Dani Alves is obviously a blow, despite El Kaiser not being a first choice starter thanks to Piqué’s absurdly rapid ascendancy to the top of the chart. It’s as surprising to me as anyone else that this has happened, of course, but it’s true that Rafa is no longer the second most important cog in the blaugrana defensive machinery. The loss we’ll feel most acutely is assuredly that of Dani Alves, whose petulant display against Chelsea in the second leg insured that we don’t have enough cover at the back and will have to either shift someone there (Yaya) or start someone with very little experience (Cáceres). Yaya filled in sufficiently against Chelsea, but was sorely missed in midfield. Puyol can play right back and provide a large portion of Alves’ forward forays, but he isn’t as young as he used to be, so some of the overlaps will go begging, leaving Messi to deal with more defenders than he would like.

I’ll trade you a Darren Fletcher for an Eric Abidal. Two undeserved red cards cancel each other out, right? Sylvinho claims he can stop C-Ronaldo, but I would prefer Abidal’s combo of pace and physicality to Sylvinho’s guile and, well, lack of pace. The key to Barça’s defense is their ability to get forward along the wings, allowing Iniesta and Xavi to fill the middle channels and giving both Henry and Messi freedom against only one defender at a time. The creativity will be squarely on Iniesta and Xavi, rather than slightly diluted between Iniesta, Xavi, and Alves, who was just finding his form when he was injured in practice the other day and will miss what little there is left of the season, anyway. Our best back line would be Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal, but I think we’re likely to see Puyol, Yaya, Piqué, Sylvinho. I’d prefer Cáceres, Puyol, Piqué, Sylvinho to keep Yaya in the midfield, but Keita should be a good stand-in there.

2. Who do you think are Barca’s key men for the Final and how should United deal with them?

Xavi and Messi are probably people you can peg as “key men”, but, really, a lot will be riding on whether or not Iniesta and Henry are fit enough to play. I have my doubts about that, but only wild horses on steroids will keep Henry from playing in what is, effectively, his last chance to win a CL. He can’t have forgotten the feeling of the 2006 final and no doubt he doesn’t want to sit on the sideline either.

But it’s Xavi, really, that is the key to the game. Lock down Xavi and despite Iniesta’s brilliance, the Barça offense splutters, at least a bit. The offensive game goes through the midfield, always, meaning Xavi’s passing is vital to getting moves going or recovering the ball. He covers more ground than anyone else (from either side, typically), so his work rate is phenomenal, but if the opposing side can force that work to be done more fruitlessly, it causes the rest of the team to run more as well. He is the fulcrum of the Barça pendulum, so causing problems there will always cause problems elsewhere.

3. As a Barca fan, who do you feel are United’s biggest threats?

I’ll go with the obvious C-Ronaldo, but also with Vidic. Set pieces are where we are most vulnerable, though Piqué’s presence is a big help in that department, as is the lack of Dani Alves (how many 5’7” men can you field at once? Barça are looking to put out 12 sometime soon). Replacing Alves with Puyol and moving Yaya back into defense helps shore up some of the size problems, but it remains that most of the time, C-Ronaldo doesn’t put the ball up for grabs, preferring to go for goal. Off of corners, it’ll be Vidic that provides the danger, I would think. On the break, it’s going to be C-Ronaldo and Rooney combining that will be effective, but it really is set pieces that could be the death of Barça.

4. Where do you think this game will be won and lost?

The midfield. There is no question about it. Barça plays both offense and defense primarily in the midfield, using pressure to cause turnovers and then quick passes to get through the defense that has been left stranded. Messi’s first goal and Barça’s third in the most recent Clásico is a perfect example of how Barça operates its defense-to-offense scheme. If Xavi and Iniesta get up full heads of steam, it becomes very, very hard to stop them because they have ESP-like attachments to each other, meaning they can play seemingly nonsensical balls to each other and suddenly the defense is split wide open. I would like to say that Yaya will be in the defensive midfield spot, but I just don’t see that happening, so it’s up to Keita to be the rock in the middle. He’s capable, of course, but he’s no 6’4” behemoth of a man-mountain capable of welding steel with his mind. Not that I have a mancrush or anything.

The key to unlocking our midfield solidity is probably just to bypass it, using a target man as the focal point, like Chelsea did. I don’t know if this is something United are really able to do at Chelsea’s level (Berbatov is no Drogba, though that might be a blessing in disguise if the former ends up one-on-one with Valdes), and it does require extreme solidity in defense to resist Barça’s ever-growing attacks (some call it desperation) while maintaining at least one attacker in our defensive end who also must be capable of battling physically with Piqué and Yaya throughout the night.

If Busquets starts, the game is going to go ManU’s way because he’s not ready to take on the defensive midfield role, as he showed against Chelsea. Pep’s hand may be forced if Iniesta and/or Henry can’t make the starting 11, but it’s the worst possible move, except maybe putting Hleb out there as central defender…or midfielder…or forward…
Will Alex Ferguson come out to play or will he sit back and absorb pressure, hoping to hit Barça on the break? If he sends his team out to play, I think it’s over and over early because there is no passing game like Barça’s, but if he decides to sit back a bit, then we’ll see a much cagier affair that could go either way.

5. Barca come into this game on the back of some poor La Liga form. Considering it was mainly the reserves in those matches, will this have any bearing on their confidence?

I wouldn’t say we have poor La Liga form simply because the last two times the first team played, they came away with a total of four points against the #2 and #5 team in the league, then gave debuts to several players and only lost against Mallorca because a certain Cameroonian striker forgot his shooting boots that day. I think what’s more important than the results of the games (except maybe for Samu) is the match fitness. I think resting the entire first team against Mallorca may have been a mistake, but we’ll only know at the end of Wednesday if that’s going to be the thought or not. As we say in the Barça-centric world, In Pep We Trust. And until he shows us that he isn’t to be trusted, we’ll continue to do so. There maybe be a few minutes where “sharp” isn’t the word to describe the team, but I’m fairly confident that those minutes will end fairly quickly as the team finds its legs and begins to play its brand of soccer.

6. What do you think of the measures being taken by the officials in Rome to curb any possible fan trouble?

Fan trouble? In Rome? What? Not even possible. To be honest, I haven’t heard much about the precautions/measures being taken, but imagine it’ll be mostly good-natured since Barça isn’t known for being particularly rowdy, though if the Boixos Nois show up and meet some ManU hooligans, there could be some old-fashioned teeth-kickin’…and I don’t imagine the skinhead blaugrana twerps will come out the better looking of the two sides.

7. Are you intrigued as I am to see the most gifted young manager in the world go up against the greatest manager of all time?

Well, no, I guess I’m not because I don’t think of Pep as the most gifted young manager in the world nor do I think of Alex Ferguson as the greatest manager of all time. They’re both obviously very good, but they’re doing a lot with a lot. Were this Xerez vs Sheffield United in the CL final with budgets akin to an MLS team, then you could claim that these are the greatest managers of all time, but these are the two richest clubs in the world going head-to-head with names like Messi, Rooney, Xavi, and C-Ronaldo. My mother could win a game or two with them.

8. What will tonight’s score be?

2-1 Barça takes home the cup. Goals by Messi and Eto’o, but Henry will have a game for the ages despite his knee problem. It’s a 50/50 affair, though, in the end, which is exactly how it should be.

So, wow he showed me, huh?! If there was to be an example to show what state you shouldn’t be in to conduct an interview, this is it. But Isaiah came up with some great answers. Apart from the final answer, of course.

For some reason or another I can’t post the videos of the United press conferences up here so I’ll just leave the links. In the press conference, Fergie is clearly confident and Rio says that he feels good enough to play. It’s also quite funny to see Ronaldo push the mic over to Rio who doesn’t realise his current one is not working.

Fergie’s one is here and Rio’s one is here. Sorry for the inconvenience.

As well as the thousands of fans with tickets for next Wednesday’s Champions League Final in Rome, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office have said that up to ten thousand Man Utd fans without tickets will also be going to Rome for the match against Barcelona.

For anyone lucky enough to be going, whether with or without a ticket, the FCO along with the Roman authorities have set out some guidelines that will aide you once you get over to the Eternal City. Some may seem obvious, but to people unfamiliar with Rome some of these pieces of advice could be invaluable once you get there.

You must carry original photo ID with you to enter the Stadio Olimpico. This can be a UK passport or a UK driving license. Take a photocopy of your passport and keep it separate to the original.
Take out travel insurance. Without travel insurance you could be liable to pay thousands of pounds should you have an accident that involves hospital treatment or repatriation.
Get a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC – formely known as E111). The EHIC entitles you to low cost or free healthcare in most European countries in an emergency, but you will still need travel insurance cover.
Make-up containers and coins will not be allowed into the Stadio Olimpico so be sure to empty your pockets before heading to the match.
Do not take the metro to the Piazzale Flaminio or use the Ponte Duca D’Aosta bridge as there has been trouble along this route to the stadium on many occasions.
Use the free public transport provided by the authorities at Villa Borghese (entrance to V. Borghese is at the top of the famous Via Veneto) to get to the stadium and don’t travel to the stadium on foot or by other means including taxis or other public transport.
There will be no public screens in Rome so it is important to plan where you will watch the match if you are travelling without a ticket. Stay as far away as possible from Campo De Fiori – there has been trouble in this square in the past amongst football fans.
Take care of your valuables in busy areas and on public transport – pick-pockets may be operating.
Be especially wary around the main railway station, Termini, on the number 64 bus, and when unloading baggage from airport/city coaches.
Be wary of groups of children who may try to distract your attention whilst trying to steal from you.
Don’t carry all your valuables – passports, credit cards and money – in the same bag or pocket.
Don’t carry valuables around with you unless you need to – consider putting them in a safety deposit box in your hotel.
Cars at rest stops and service stations can be targets for robbers – if you find yourself with a flat tyre, especially on the Naples to Salerno motorway, treat any offers of help with caution.
Store your valuables securely on sleeper trains – thieves have been known to operate on them.

Check out further information here.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Ryan Giggs told of his delight at the pairing of the two best teams in Europe in next Wednesday’s Final and also stated his belief that if United win in Rome, they could dominate Europe for years to come. While Barcelona probably have the same designs in their mind, it’s hard to deny that given the age of the squads, and the talent there that the winner could rule Europe for a few years to come.

“Everything is in place. The age of the team is relatively young if you take out me, Nev, Scholesy and Edwin.

“We’ve proved this season that we can get to the final again, and hopefully that gives us the confidence to carry on and dominate. That’s what we’ve done in our own league and we want to do that in Europe. We’ve got everything in place to do that.

“This match determines the best club in Europe this season. It’s the two best teams in England and Spain, and also from performances in the Champions League.

“It’s the dream final, two fantastic, massive clubs who play football the right way. Everyone’s looking forward to it, including the players.”

Giggs also spoke of how the harsh lessons learned (AKA the spanking United received) at the hands of Milan in 06/07 Champions League Semi-Final has sculpted this side, and made them hungrier for European glory.

“We had the players to get to a Champions League Final then. But the likes of Wayne (Rooney) and Cristiano (Ronaldo) had just come to the club. They hadn’t matured into the world class players they are now.

“With the players the manager has brought in, we’ve just got better and better since. From the first trophy this team won – the League Cup where we beat Wigan – we’ve gone from strength to strength.

“I just put my trust in the manager. He’s won so much. At that time we were saying the team was evolving and we were trying to get the age of the team down. That takes time. We probably did it quicker than we thought we would.”

I like the way Giggs is talking about this. You hear so many managers talking about ‘building a team’ and such and it never materializes, for one reason or another. But from Giggs’ words it seems like he really believes they’ve got the right squad, got the right everything to accomplish great things.

Reports coming out of Italy, courtesy of newspaper La Repubblica, say that plans are being drawn up by Ultras to cause massive trouble on the night of the Champions League Final, 27 May.

The report by the newspaper claims that the Italian DIGOS (Division of Special Investigations and Organised Crime) are fearing that Barcelona and Roma fans/hooligans/Ultras will join together to fight Manchester United fans. This is exactly what Italian officials didn’t want in the lead up to the CL Final.

There has always been trouble when English teams played in Rome, the most notable trouble coming when United played Roma in the Champions League in 06/07. It’s not just isolated to United fans, as Arsenal fans found out earlier this season.

This is just another reason why the CL Final shouldn’t be held in Rome. The city has been plagued with fan trouble and hooliganism in recent years, with fans being stabbed and beaten on a regular basis. Why UEFA chose the city for the Final baffles belief, the only explanation being UEFA President Michel Platini’s unbridled love for Italian football. Since the location for this year’s Final was announced, there were calls for it to be moved, amid fear of trouble. Indeed, such was the opposition to the location that The Times launched a campaign against the Final which promoted the idea of it being moved to a safer, more logical location.

I have always gone along with the idea that the Final should be held elsewhere. I’m not saying it should be held in England, somehwere like Madrid, Paris, Cardiff or even Dublin’s Croke Park would be a much safer option. Platini’s allegiance to Italian football is absolutely no reason to endanger thousands of fans and his decision to choose and continue to defend this location is another example of his lack of foresight.

(Platini photo: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Well, they’re nothing if not consistent in their eternal battle against football and common sense. For today, UEFA threw out Man Utd’s appeal that Darren Fletcher’s ridiculous red card be rescinded. And what reason did they give for not overturning the red card? That’s right, because Man Utd didn’t appeal within the twenty-four hour period after the match.

Seriously, these guys at UEFA appear to have very little idea of what they’re doing. I’m fairly confident that me and a few of my mates could do a better job after a few beers.

But it’s over and done with now, as United have decided against appealing the decision to discard the appeal. Confusing, I know. Barca, too, had their appeals thrown out. They appealed against Eric Abidal’s red and Dani Alves’ yellow card, which rule both players out of the Champions League Final. Can’t say I’m too disappointed about that.

But after this being brought to light, UEFA seriously need to rethink their appeals system. I don’t know anyone who’d be against a Premier League style system, in which a decision can be overturned because it was the wrong decision, not just for mistaken identity. I mean, for fuck’s sake, this isn’t an episode of Scooby Doo!

Both Fletcher and SAF appeared to be resigned to his missing the Final even before the appeal, which I guess will soften the blow of the unsuccessful appeal. But still, it’s an awful way for a player to miss the biggest game of his career, but this debacle should teach UEFA a lesson in the one thing they despise most; common sense.