Very short. We lost 2-0 to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Scholes sent off for deliberate handball, Danny Murphy scored from the penalty. Berbatov had probably his worse match ever for us, the kind of display that makes you think he’s not worth €1, never mind €30M.

Ronaldo was awful, some typical petulance towards officials and the type of display that reaffirms the notion that Messi is undeniably the best player in the world.

Rooney came on in the second half, made a real difference. Made chances and United should have scored two, Ronaldo missed a free header and Park had a great chance saved, as did Rooney. Schwarzer had a great game.

United showed fight but no bite in the second half. Then Zoltan Gera scored in the dying minutes after United brought O’Shea off for Tevez, leaving us with three at the back. Rooney had got booked for a cynical foul on Dacourt in the middle of the second half and then got his second yellow for throwing away the ball.

Finished 2-0 to Fulham. United finish with nine men.

Disgraceful. These pieces of shit are earning 100 times more than they deserve; no effort, fuck all heart, seemingly no pride in the badge.

These guys better buck themselves up if they want to win this title because at the moment they don’t deserve it.

(Photo by Getty Images)

So, first off, what a game on Saturday! Many people had predicted a tight match and Daryl even predicted United’s Quintuple dream to end. How wrong some people were. United were brilliant against Fulham, controlling the match from start to finish and showing again what depth we have. Two goals from Tevez and goals from Park and Rooney settled a tie that United never looked like losing, or drawing! If you haven’t seen them already, highlights here.

The FA Cup Semi-Final draw was yesterday and United drew Everton, who disposed of Middlesbrough 2-1 at Goodison yesterday. I’m kinda happy with the draw. Don’t get me wrong, Everton are good but I’m glad we haven’t drawn Arsenal or Chelsea. Of course Arsenal still have to play Hull, but I expect Arsenal to overpower Hull. I hope that it’s an Arsenal-United Final. The reason I say this is that I don’t want a repeat of the borefest of an FA Cup Final that was United vs Chelsea in 06/07. Aside from losing that one, it was such a poor match to boot. I don’t think United vs Arsenal would be that bad.

I’m really looking forward to the Everton match. They’re a good side with shitloads of spirit and it’ll be a good test for United to play against them.

So, Fergie took my hint and rested Ronnie for the FA Cup game. So presumably the boy from Madeira will be fresh as a daisy on Wednesday. A note of worry however is that Rio got injured after 40 minutes at Craven Cottage and is a doubt for Inter on Wednesday. Of course, Jonny Evans can stand in, preferebly we’d have Rio playing but Evans showed what he can do at San Siro.

As I said, this is a short post so I’m gonna end it with some intriguing tidbits I found on my travels;
Over at TEAMtalk, Simon Welkes thinks that Fergie should retire if United win the Quintuple, to be replaced by one man, and one man only.
While over at the Guardian, Sir Alex thinks that Internazionale will play for penalties.

He could be right. Until next time (either tomorrow or Wednesday), peace out!

Going first with the title subject. A mate and I were having a chat in college today about United’s upcoming matches. My mate is a Mancunian and an avid United fan. We were talking about the Fulham match in the FA Cup at the weekend and the Inter match in the Champions League on Wednesday. Basically, he suggested that Ronaldo be rested for the Fulham match so to ensure sharpness for our biggest match of the season so far; Inter at Old Trafford on Wednesday. I was thinking about it and it makes sense. Only Nemanja Vidic has played more for United than Ronaldo this season; Ronaldo having made 38 appearances (including 4 sub apps.), while Vidic has made 39 appearances (including 3 sub apps.). If it weren’t for Ronaldo’s early season injury he’d have played about 7 more games by now. Vidic has been rested on a fairly regular basis while Ronaldo has been an ever present since returning from injury. Of course, Evans is there as a replacement for Vidic, while there isn’t any top-grade stand-ins for Ronnie. But it just seems after playing 15 straight games that Ronaldo could do with a rest, ready to come out swinging against the Nerazurri on Wednesday. United should be able to cope without him against the Cottagers (haha, Cottagers), of course they have a good home record but we still should beat them, I don’t care what anyone says. If Ron picked up an injury at Craven Cottage it’d be a real blow for Wednesday night. Playing him could be an unnecessary risk.

Tell me what you think. I was gonna create a poll but can’t get it on here, so post your opinion in the comments section.

Secondly, a cool wee thing over at the United Official Website. They have a video of classic games between United and Fulham and Craven Cottage. Among others, it features Giggsy’s stunning volley from the 06/07 season. It’s such a fucking unbelievable goal. Check out the video here. You may have to be registered to view it though.

Other tidbit, Fabio scored the winner in a reserve match against ‘Boro tonight. Dunno if it’s his first goal but still a good thing.

Fuck, there really is nothing going on today…

A few days ago I contacted Johonna over at the Inter Milan Offside with the idea of doing a Man Utd/Inter Offside crossover. Basically, we asked each other questions and are posting each other’s answers on our blogs. Here are the gruelling (not really) questions that I asked Johonna, and the answers to those questions..

Wayne: So here we are, on the eve of the big match. It’s the Serie A champions against the European, World and Premier League champions. Do you think that this is the tie of the round?
Johonna: Well, it certainly is for me. To tell you the truth, though, whichever team Inter were paired with would be the tie of the round for me. I do think that it is interesting that both teams are at the top of their respective leagues and both were tipped as potential winners before the beginning of the league, but I do not think this tie will be any less or more exciting than any of the others.

W: Do you think it’s an advantage for your team to have the first tie at home, or would you rather have the first tie away?
J: I would rather have the away first. That way, you can try to get some precious away goals the first time out. I know it is nice to have home-field advantage, but I hate playing catch-up.

W: Man United are having some major injury problems ahead of the game in terms of the defence, how do you think Jose Mourinho will go about trying to capitalise on this?
J: I think Mourinho has his game plan and his team, and he has for some time. Looking at the call-up list, I cannot think of who he would change. I think we are going to play compact, possession ball in the midfield, the wingbacks will press, and Zlatan and Adri will try to muscle through the defense. On our side, we are without our defender Walter Samuel. He has been in great form recently and his injury is a blow for us.

W: Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson have had a very healthy rivalry in previous years, in the CL and the EPL, do you think this will have any bearing on the match?
J: Actually, I think it does. When you read interviews with team members, one thing they say is that Mourinho knows Manchester United and Ferguson and that this gives them confidence in front of the match. I dont think it would be quite the same if Inter were to play Lyon or something. I think, though, that both managers play to win so would be just as ferocious no matter who the opponent is.

W: Where do you think Inter need to dominate if they’re going to win the first leg?
J: First and foremost, we cannot allow any goals. Away goals are the devil in a tournament like this. Still, we also have to score a goal (or two). I think if we can control the midfield (like we did against Juventus), the rest of the game will fall into place.

W: Who do you think is the biggest threat on the United team for this first leg?
J: Edwin Van der Sar. He has an amazing record and will be very difficult to beat. Ronaldo, but only because he has tricky feet that draw fouls and has the potential to be very dangerous in dead-ball situations.

W: What area do you think is Inter’s weakest on the pitch and do you think this will effect the game at all?
J: I think our weakest link is also our strongest. If Ibra is not playing up to his potential then we will suffer. If he is playing like he can, we will be golden. Another big question mark is Davide Santon. He has recently been promoted from our youth team, and while he has been playing well, he has only played 7 games with the first team. If he plays, this will be his first Champions League match. That is a little scary.

So there we go, some interesting answers from Johonna. Head over to the Inter Offside if you want to check out my answers and even to answer the questions yourself. If the answers are not up yet, I’m sure they soon will be.

Let us know either here at the Man Utd Offside or over with Johonna at the Inter Offside what you think of this feature. Cheers folks.

A good day today for United. An exciting if not very solid win against Derby County in the Carling Cup Semi-Final sees us through to the Final to face either Spurs or Burnley, probably Spurs.

Aside from the usual stuff, turns out that Sir Alex was today voted the best manager of the last 12 years. The IFFHS, or the International Federation of Football History and Statistics have released their new list of the best football managers of the last dozen years. Why do it over 12 years? I have no idea, but I’m sure a federation with a name as important sounding as that doesn’t need a reason. Anyway, Fergie sits in first place, followed by Italy manager Marcello Lippi and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. I’m not going to go through the whole list, mainly because it’s not much of a laugh. But at least we know that historically and statistically Ferguson’s the best manager of the last 12 years.

Second bit o’ news is taken from yesterday’s Daily Dose, posted by Chris. Amongst the many interesting pieces, there was one that surprised me. It was news of United’s home kit for next season, a red jersey with a white v-shaped sash down the front (much like Bordeaux’s jersey).

Apparently it will be made by Nike to commemorate United’s first FA Cup win 100 years ago in 1909 against Bristol City. United will allegedly wear the kit for the whole of the 2009/10 season. I’m really looking forward to what it will look like. Will Nike go with a real traditional look or try to glam it up? Only time will tell. I can’t upload a pic at the mo so check it out here.

Some other potentially important news that I read over at the Football Shirt Culture Blog is that Indian company Sahara India Pariwar, shirts sponsors of the India cricket team and multi-conglomerate involved in real estate and finances and other shit, have been approached by Man Utd with a sponsorship proposal. Sahara’s head of Corporate Communications Sahara Abhijit Sarkar said; “Yes! We have definitely received a proposal from Manchester United. It is an elaborate proposal from Manchester United. We are still studying it and I cannot comment further.”

Love the firmness of his ‘yes’.

Apparently, United sent over samples to the Indian company and photos of Rooney and Ronaldo wearing United jerseys with the company’s name across them. Sounds a bit desperate by United, or maybe that’s how these things work.

That’s all the random news for now. Peace plebs…

First off, I’d like to apologise for my inactivity in recent weeks. College is tough when you’re learning how to be a journalist but I’ve got assignments done, and I’m back on track.

So, when we found out that Real Madrid’s interest was well and truly over and done with we were all pretty happy, eh? No need to worry about Ronaldo leaving anymore. It was nice.

But now the gossip mongers are back and are claiming that Cristiano Ronaldo has another suitor, in the form of Serie A champions and perennial winger buyer, Inter Milan. According to droves of websites on this interweb, Ronaldo is very keen on teaming up with his compatriot and former Chelsea manager José Mourinho at the Nerazurri.

What’s worrying is that most of the comments appear to have come from Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes. He has supposedly stated to the Inter hierarchy that Ronaldo still wants to leave Man Utd and would love to move to Inter. Mendes was the agent that helped Ricardo Quaresma’s deal to Inter go through and thus he has a connection and probably trust with Inter. Yes, I mentioned the words ‘trust’ and ‘agent’ in the same sentence.

If the deal is going to happen, it would be bankrolled by Pirelli, Inter’s main sponsors who also paid for the deal to bring the original Ronaldo to Inter from Barca in 1997.

One stumbling block is that Man Utd have stated in the recent past that they categorically have no intention of selling Ronaldo in the near future. The fact that Inter, and not Real Madrid want him is hardly going to change Sir Alex’s mind…

So, basically I really can’t see this one happening. But it’s a fairly interesting story regardless.

After his laughable flirtation with Real Madrid over the Summer, Ronaldo returned to the Old Trafford pitch today, to cheers and applause. Likely helped by the fact that we can’t score to save our lives right now.

What a fickle bunch fans can be…

So, it seems fitting that our current number 7, Cristiano Ronaldo, should return from his injury in the month named after his number. It looks like he has gotten over his painful yet wonderfully named ‘Os Trigonum Syndrome‘. It is a bony prominence in his ankle not, as first feared, an addiction to hair gel and glamour models. Worryingly for United, it is yet to be made clear as to whether he is well on his way to becoming a legend or well on his way out of Old Trafford.

If it’s games he needs, it’s games he will get, as the rest of September chock-full of huge and intriguing fixtures. The Champion’s League defence will begin with a visit from the unsettled Villarreal followed by a daren’t lose fixture away to Chelsea in London. Two of United’s bogey teams follow in the league with the ever improving Boro and physical and awkward Bolton.

To be able to call September a success I would think that Fergie will not be happy unless he wins all of them possibly excepting the trip to Chelsea where a draw would be acceptable. The gaining of momentum is essential for this part for the season so as not to rely on our usual post Christmas purple patch. There are too many banana skins and potential upsets out there at the present and the sooner we find that rhythm again the better. The big question is, can the forwards gain the space they need without Ronaldo? So far, evidence his shown only flashes of brilliance rather than the usual feeling of menace at every attack.

Those fixtures in full for September:
Wednesday 17th vs. Villareal (h)
Sunday 21st vs. Chelsea (a)
Tuesday 23rd vs. Middlesborough (h)
Saturday 27th vs. Bolton (h)
Tuesday 30th vs. Aalborg (a)

I will gush forth more news, previews and reports as often as I can. Keep the debate going.