AC Milan Crowned Europe’s Finest

I couldn’t agree more with Ancelotti, it was destiny that has triumphed Milan’s journey this season. For all the troubles they had early in the season, the joy on the team are such an emotional scene to be witnessed and enjoyed. It was apparent that the the win finally put an end to the misery that this club has suffered since that fateful night in Istanbul a couple of years ago. It was fittingly that in city of Athens, where the myths and glory of god and goddesss are worshipped, the exact revenge or rather not repeating the same mistake, Milan was able to redeem themselves and basked in the magical night of glory.

7th European title, 5th for Paolo Maldini, the 2nd in 4 years, you just have to respect this team. It’s arguably the greatest side in the last 20 years considered the number of trophy they won, the style of football they always play, and the great team that have been assembled since the day of van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, to the likes of Kaka, Pirlo, and Inzaghi.

For Liverpool, they’re winner by showing how much respect and gracious they’re in defeat. Carragher and Benitez paid tribute to Maldini and the quality of Milan respectively, and it is this type of sportsmanship that football needs, this type of respect that football wants to promote, not continuously provoking conspiracy as what the Special One keep promoting. After all, sports is meant to unite people, in the right way.

FA CUP FINAL: Chelsea 1 – Man Utd 0

I’m speechless, so disappointed, depressed. The Double dream has been shattered.

The goal came in at time when United were controlling the tempo, starting to create moves that is United football, and out of a sudden there was this double substitution for Giggs and Carrick. I thought Carrick was alright in the midfield, breaking up plays and produced some good long passes although he didn’t have one of his best day, and Giggs was still making play, creating spaces for himself, although he probably should’ve done better from that Rooney pass from the right wing –even with his scuffed effort, the ball was clearly over the line, and with the referee giving a goal kick to Chelsea, it was just wrong; if the referee thought Giggs’ motion might’ve pushed Cech who already was holding the ball, he should’ve given Chelsea a free kick –.

It was a final with all the high anticipation of the new Wembley stadium –which does look awesome, except for the pitch condition– and the meeting of a newly crowned Premiership champion in Manchester United and a team that look to lost it all, including their overly irritating coach, Mourinho in Chelsea. The game itself though is left to be desired as the first half was literally walking pace and both teams were cautious. The second half produced better pace, especially withArjen Robben coming in for Joe Cole, and with Man U later introducing Alan Smith, United started to get back to their flowing football. In general though, the final reminded me of the 2005 Final where United were dominating the game against a Thierry Henry-less Arsenal team, only to fail to break their defence and lost in penalties.

As sour as the season might’ve ended for United though with this FA Cup Final loss, we should be proud enough that Chelsea’s arrogance is finally broken. Winning both FA Cup and League Cup might be some sort of double for any team, but winning back the Premiership with the best attractive football is probably a much greater achievement for Manchester United, and according to Sir Alex, United has done football a favor by taking the crown back from Chelsea! Ouchh, eat it Jose!!

It’s Disapponting, but …

The dream of Treble has long gone since the chilly night at San Siro that crushed United’s dream with a 3-0 loss to AC Milan. It was a disappointing night, especially the way the match folded, high expectations, confident, Manchester-like weather, but the worst of all started to glimpse when Seedorf shot a brilliant thundering drive only for van der Sar to superbly tipped it over the bar no less than only 5 minutes after the referee blow the kick-off whistle. United never find a way to find their rhythm with Gattuso is at the heart of disrupting all United’s movement, especially each time Ronaldo gets the ball, it was closed down first by Gattuso before Oddo waiting at the 2nd level.

I guess what really disappointing for me to see was that why would Ferguson played Vidic after he missed out 8 matches in a row and sit Alan Smith in the bench while he would be perfect to combat Gattuso’s aggressiveness in midfield. Fergie could’ve played Brown and O’Shea in the middle with Heinze and Fletcher at the flanks. It was even more depressing to see Saha came in in the 70th minute and did nothing which I expected as I can see his face is full of nothing but pressure. It was really disappointing especially considering how the first leg was classically won by the brilliance of Rooney.

At the end of the day though, as a football fan, I must come to realize that no team can win everything, and Manchester United, with the squad that they have, and the injuries that they suffered towards the end of this campaign, have done superbly to be still at this stage, challenging two out of three major trophies. It was disappointing, but United can build on this European semifinal appearance for next year, adding probably Hargreaves and one other big-name striker, and I know I’ll be supporting them more than ever.

For now, Manchester City, and we’ve got back the Premiership!!! One game at a time, and God knows the Double is still ahead of us!!! Go, Man U!!!

A Team with Great Belief in Themselves

The title was part of the commentator’s tribute to Manchester United’s shortly after their third goal against the Blackburn Rovers, after going down 1-0 at halftime and losing their key defender for the season early in the first half. I couldn’t agree more with him, this is a team worthy of champions, a team that’s hungry for success, and a team whose togetherness has brought them pretty far this season. Character is one of the key point on this team, so ready to de-throne Chelsea from their arrogance that has lasted for nearly 3 years.

The man of the match could go either Scholes or Carrick, although if I were to pick, Scholes would be my pick. His equalizer is the key to the game, especially with the way he danced through almost 4 defenders before putting the ball into the net with great composure. His goal, and the timing of the goal gave plenty of time for United to keep pressuring Rovers’ defence while at the same time getting rid of their frustration as chances built-up have been denied by either poor finishing or Fridel’s brilliance –as he showed twice denying Rooney from point blanks.

It was a great result for United, the second successive 4-1 (after last week’s result against Bolton). The way United pressed, passed, and controlled the game during the second half is virtually second to none, not even Barcelona matched that performance. Ronaldo, again proved to be the flair and the creative genius on the wings coupled with composure off Scholes and Carrick in the middle, and the tireless Park supporting and fighting the ball everywhere.

Game Analysis (Premiership, Old Trafford, MANCHESTER UTD 4 – BLACKBURN ROVERS 1)

• Blackburn’s 1st goal: Panic, simply the result of panic after Vidic was injured and United’s hurriedly trying to get their first goal
• United’s 1st goal: absolutely brilliant, one of Scholes’ best goal of all time
• United’s 2nd goal: amazing composure from Carrick, the goal is crowded, but the shot selection is just perfect
• United’s 3rd goal: Park again showed positioning is important, slotting in the rebound into the opposite corner
• United’s 4th goal: Ole, Ole, Ole!!! This is an amazing guy, his confidence and minutes to goals ratio this season is unbelievable (when you think of his age and him being out for nearly 2 seasons)

Brilliant game, excellent result, although Vidic’s broken collarbone will sideline him for the rest of the season. It’s a blow for United considering his contribution on defense (and attacks) this season, although looking at the bright side, this is an opportunity for Brown to get good run of matches in the central defence (and probably make his cases with England), and with Gary Neville out of three weeks, O’Shea will prove to be an important of this squad, now plying his trade at right-back position. Alan Smith is showing nice touches as well, and I just thought Sir Alex might just be right on his confidence and trust on this squad.

Fight on, lads!! Next, Roma!!

A Master Class United

4-0 at White Hart Lane, that’s no small feat and all two thumbs up to my United.  It was a master class performance, and the second half football is just absolutely beatiful and efficient.  The taint was of course van der Sar’s broken nose at the end of the game, although O’Shea performance at the goalie is absolutely fantastic!! Denying Keane and another corner punched, that was one of the most interesting game!!

Vidic deserved to be the Man of the Match although Scholes, who won the award, dictated the midfield along with Carrick, whose in-swinging corner found Vidic to seal the game in the early minutes of the second half.  Everyone deserves an applause last night, including van der Sar who made two great saves, one similar to the goal that was conceded against Henry a couple weeks ago, only this time Berbatov’s header was safely tipped over the bar, en route to a second consecutive clean-sheet.

Brilliant lads!!!

What’s Wrong with Manchester United?

The last three away form has been pretty bad for United, losing 0-1 at Upton Park to West Ham, throwing up two leads at St.James’ Park for a 2-2 draw, and the latest classics, losing 1-2 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on the last minute of the injury time, courtesy of who else other than Thierry Henry.  3 of the 4 opponent’s goals came in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Do they get tired?  Or they simply trying to protect their lead and forget how to play the Manchester United way of football?  My 2 cents is that defense won a game, and the defense are just under too much pressure to still go forwards event though after they’ve taken a lead, and it’s obvious when looking at how often Gary Neville and Evra needs to running back and forth for the whole game.  Then it came to realize, how come Sir Alex doesn’t want to utilize both Heinze and Wes Brown on the last quarter of the match?  Brown has shown some sharpness lately, and Heinze’s fighting spirit would be awesome for the team, although Evra produced much more flair and tricks compared with Heinze.  But we’re now talking about holding on to a lead when United is taking control of the match.

If United has managed to just taken 3 draws out of the 3 games, they would’ve been 10 instead of 6 points above Chelsea.  Buying Hargreaves might give United a superb advantage on the middle as Hargreaves played in the frame of a battling Gattuso while Carrick is more like Andrea Pirlo, although that is given Hargreaves will play as good as before he got this injury.

As a lifelong United fan, I’m worried, but rather in a positive term, concerned about not being able to capitalize on many opportunity to really send a warning signal to Chelsea before some of their big players gained confidence, namely Shevchenko, the coming back Terry, and the brave Cech.  The title race is still wide open, and United can only count on themselves not making the same mistake over and over again if they were to be crowned the Premiership title for the first time in 3 years –something that’s not too common at Old Trafford.

Disappointing United Held by Magpies

It was a game where United could’ve scored 5 goals on another day. Two goal-line clearances, a couple of crossbar strikes, a number of saves, a few other misses, and United ended up with only a point from a 2-2 draw at St.James’ Park. As disappointing as it was, that day belonged to the 19 years old Edgar who played at the left back, shutting down Ronaldo, before he switched flanks with Giggs, and what to cap a home debut other than scoring an equalizer against a mammoth team like United.

I agree though with Ferguson that it’s all credit to the Toon’s troops who played with high spirits closing down every movement of each of United player. The only thing I thought Ferguson should’ve done is bringing on Carrick at the hour after the tempo was slowing down and United players started letting Newcastle dictated the tempo, albeit the 12th man in the Magpies crowd was magnificent throughout the night. It was also questionable why Solskjaer who is in terrific form lately and is a clinical finisher, was not on the bench, leaving United with Rooney as the only striker with Saha injured midway through the first half.

2 points dropped, United need to be careful of their own defensive unit as once the transfer market opens in January, expect Chelsea to shore up their leaky defense with some big names, such as Sol Campbell. It’s a 7 points advantage now, and it’s all up to the United squad to show their characters fighting for the title that seems closer within reach this year than anytime in the last 3 years.

Manchester United @ Newcastle United

In a little over an hour, Manchester United will be playing Newcastle United at St.James’ Park for their first campaign in 2007, having been 6 points clear of Chelsea at the summit of the Premiership. Throughout the year, United has shown the type of resiliency and persistence that has been lacked of in recent years. The emergence of Vidic at the back along with the maturing Ferdinand added a composed United back-line along with the always reliable Gary Neville and the emergence of Evra competing with Heinze at the left back.

The return of Scholes at the midfield adds the type of vision and the ability to change the course of the game with a tackle or a long pass along with the arrival of Carrick who has been playing pretty well at the anchor position, breaking tackles and sending in long balls.

With Ronaldo playing at his best form of his life, he makes a good case for Player of the Year, and along with Saha, who has been able to fill-in the shoes of the departed van Nistelrooy, United attack hasn’t looked so orchestrated in so many years, with Giggs playing one of the best year of his career.

van der Sar at the back has been the answer to Ferguson to the long tem problem after Schmeichel left, and the 36-years old Dutchman look as composed as ever, albeit he is a totally different personality with that of Peter Schmeichel.

That all above, with the exception of Neville who was out of injured, would probably the first 11 that Ferguson will name for this tricky encounter with the Magpies. Expect tough battle in midfield with possibly 4-5-1 formation, United needs to be at their best controlling the tempo and taking an early lead to settle into the game.

mindubes’ long tail: NEWCASTLE UTD 0 – MANCHESTER UTD 2

Super Scholes Kept United at the Summit

A magnificent goal from Scholes midway through the second half ensured United a victory at Villa Park, before a late second goal from Cristiano Ronaldo (his brace) kept United at the summit of the Premiership with a 3-0 win against a spirited Aston Villa. Scholes’ goal could go down as the goal of the season. It was a Gigg’s corner head-cleared by Villa’s defense before it fell to Scholes on 30 yards out, which was volleyed home magnificently by the midfielder.

It was not, however, the prettiest performance by United, especially in the first half where Park Ji-Sung is pretty much not effective, considered his lengthy lay-off due to injury and a surprise start at the right wing, in place of Ronaldo, who was shifted to the left, of which Giggs was playing up-front in place of Rooney., who was given a breather by Ferguson. United, though were lucky to escape the early break where Villa could’be been 1-0 up had it not for the crossbar to denied the header, and for van der Sar to make a great save off the line from the following effort.

The second half though is a different story, especially after another magnificent goal from United, this time it was the Man-of-the-Match Ronaldo who danced from the halfway line against no less than 5 defenders before a sublime effort blocked by Villa’s defender at the edge of the penalty box, though it fell back to Ronaldo who smashed home a thunder to the left corner of Kiraly’s goal. That goal, changed the course of the game, and United were in full control afterwards.

The third goal is classic United. It started all the way in the left of the defense sending through beautiful passes involving Ronaldo, Giggs, Neville, and finished coolly by Ronaldo, who was denied earlier with an offside from a similar play. Three goals up, and United were not to be denied this season going into the festive’ season leading the Premiership for the first time in three years with 2 points advantage over Chelsea.

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Disappointed United dropped back to ordinary

It was a disappointing match at Upton Park where United were defeated 0-1 to West Ham United, who were ignited by the arrival of Alan Curbishley.  United had more possessions although it was clear from the beginning they didn’t resume service as usual.  Robert Green, West Ham’s goalie, made a few good saves, notably from Ronaldo’s chance midway through the second half.

It was interesting though to see why Sir Alex substituted Giggs for Solskjaer, AND put Ole on the right wing while United clearly needed more presense in the middle of the attack.  Later on, O’Shea coming in for Carrick raised even more eyebrows, and seeing Heinze, who could’ve been easily Man Utd man of the match were later substituted for Park Ji-Sung.  Sometimes, I just can’t understand Sir Alex’s decision on certain substitutions.  Why not Fletcher for Giggs, and Solskjaer could’ve come in for Rooney, who were ineffective all day.

At the end of the day, Mourinho with his big mouth has the last laugh this week.  It’s a game to forget, possibly one of the worst game they played this season.  I guess, Henrik Larsson, who was in attendance for his new team before heading back to Sweden for Christmas, has work cut out for him as the new year poses a tight race for United … will they stand strong, or will they falter to the pressure of Chelski?  Only character will tell …