Football analysis by Mark Payne
Mark Payne is a journalist currently living in Sydney, Australia. He is a weekly correspondent for ESPN's online service and a contributor to a host of business, travel and lifestyle publications.
With all of United’s main rivals winning on Saturday, this game against Newcastle had become a must-win fixture by kickoff. Confidence was not high among travelling United fans but the men on the field, fortunately, had a few tricks up their sleeves. Fergie’s team selection was bold to say the least. Considering United’s issues with [click to read more]
APWayne Rooney set up both goals in Cluj There was some irony in the match against CFR Cluj being sandwiched between two games involving Newcastle. From the view of some, Manchester United are resurrecting the ghost of Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle side with an attacking penchant that leaves the defending till later. The game against the [click to read more]
Manchester United head into this match against Spurs on the back of a sixth straight win against Newcastle midweek. However, United’s midfield this season has been less than impressive and it is at about this time Fergie would like to start fielding his best 11 against more accomplished sides. Problem is, nobody knows what that [click to read more]
Manchester United’s run of playing badly and winning had to end at some point. This result was long overdue for Tottenham, but they only half deserved it in the end. To be specific, they deserved to win the first half. After the break, United murdered them, but to no avail. AVB will rightly take some [click to read more]
It has not been a good week for hard-bitten centre-halves. As John Terry was resigning his England tenure, Nemanja Vidic was quietly yielding to the surgeon’s knife. Not only was the Serb’s operation keep out of the news until the deed had be done, it was also to the same knee which kept him out [click to read more]
In the midst of all the emotion and the warnings, a football match broke out at Anfield this Sunday. It was a game in which the hosts, Liverpool, played impressively but finished without reward. This was also the match where something we have seen before started to look familiar – a slightly wonky Manchester United [click to read more]
The build up to this most emotive of fixtures has focused on whether or not Manchester United’s away fans will sing inflammatory songs during proceedings. Manchester United fans are a classy bunch by and large and they will recognise the importance of this occasion. The warnings and requests and pleas have been numerous and, one [click to read more]
This narrow 1-0 victory over Galatasaray at Old Trafford brings a welcome three points and a wining to start to the season’s Champions League campaign, but question marks remain in key areas for United. For many in the starting lineup, this match was something of an audition, and some fluffed their lines. The pre-match talk [click to read more]
Manchester United’s European fixtures against Galatasaray come with a fiery backstory, thanks to the now infamous events of 1993, and the Turkish giants head into this clash eager to take the Red Devils’ scalp, unbeaten so far this season and off the back of a 4-0 win at the weekend. The 18 times Turkish champions, [click to read more]
Yesterday Old Trafford bore witness to our team’s best performance of the season to go second in the league in a match that commemorated the tenures of some of the club’s greatest servants. Unfortunately, a couple of hundred idiots have hogged a number of the Sunday headlines. Of the 75,142 fans in attendance yesterday, approximately [click to read more]