The Devil In Me

This was a tale of two defences really. Dick Advocaat knows a thing or two about organising a backline and Zenit were brick like in defence all night. Gary Neville’s latest return was rather a nervy one and he needlessly conceded the corner that led to their first goal. Alas poor Rio, immense all game but criminally at fault for no. 2. It must be a pretty thankless task being a defender, he will be getting grief about his fabled ‘concentration lapses’ for months now and he was brilliant for every other minute of the match.

Criticisms of United not producing a final product at the moment are founded. Every time Rooney had the ball he was playing from the half-way line at the left hand side of the field, I just cannot make any sense of that. With Nani, and latterly Park, on the pitch we should have the wingers to provide service for a front man - yet it is now glaringly obvious that after 4 games no Manchester United striker has scored this season.

This was a pretty tough game and the Reds really didn’t seem up for it. Zenit kept frustrating us and Scholes (Rio-esque, great game, 1 bad mistake) certainly didn’t cover himself in glory. Perhaps it was the strange nature of the occasion or perhaps it was simply that we got beat, but could there be a growing feeling of discontent going through the squad right now? I hope not, but Friday was an all round glum experience, I hope it proves to be an isolated incident.

We are a superstitious bunch football fans. The game is so intellectualised and anaylysed nowadays that people seem to have lost sight of the importance of lucky socks, or standing in the right place in the pub, or more simply just seeing the game with your mates. It is the prevalence of omens in football, more than any of the above, that keep our superstitious juices flowing. What is more, there are simply too many to ignore their significance, the year is lucky for Spurs when it ends in one, England will always lose in a penalty shootout, and any team that was lucky enough to have Stanley Matthews in it will not win a trophy again, ever.

So it is wistfully that I cast my eye over the delicious list of omens we have stacked up in the last 24 hours.
-The last time the title was up for grabs, and involving United, on the last day was 99. We went on to win the European cup.
-The last time two teams went into the final day of the season on equal points was 68. We went on to win the European Cup.
-The last time United won away 2-0 on the last day of the season (03/04 vs Aston Villa). We went on to win the cup final we were playing in.

Other than that, it would be rude not to join in the all United love in that last days of the season have started to become. Giggs scoring was a nice touch and although he has come in for a bit of stick for his recent performances his form at the start of the season, lest we forget, was very strong. He was also magnificent all of last season.

And yes they did make us suffer again, the goal line clearance and Ferdinand’s givage of a penalty made us look a little bit lucky. The best part of the day was the Moonraker-clad Ferguson talking about how much more hunger he has to win trophies, fantastic. In the meantime I’ll be looking for my lucky socks.

There has been an a tendency amongst United fans to be optimistic over recent weeks. We should all know better. A wobble has been coming and a wobble has arrived. It would conflict with everything that is good and true in the universe if Chelsea were to snatch the title from here, but we must look at our cups of tea and know that it is a possibility now.

Horse-racing fanatic Alex Ferguson has gambled again, and considering the fixture list over the last week I do not blame him. Nonetheless it has backfired.

The trophies are still there to be won, the thing is we are going to have to win them, Chelsea will not hand them over. Perhaps this is the way it should be.

The bravery of Vidic and the heroism of Rooney are for discussion another day, as is the dubiousness of the penalty.

It is showtime now, and we have to stand up.

Exaggeration is a dangerous thing. And in football so is comparison to things, matches and players of different eras. We only need to take a look at the whole Ronaldo/ Best non-debate (George) to see that.

The greatest match ever played was that between Brazil and France in the quarter finals of the 1986 world cup. It would be churlish to compare this game to that. It would be arrogant to even put it in the same category, but it was close. We just watched a game of football gentlemen.

Before we move on to analysis let me just say that Arsenal were brilliant. They are a truly great team and when they start winning the trophies they deserve no sane person has any right to begrudge them. Good news United are better than them really isn’t it.

They really made us shake, sans Vidic I may hear you say but shake we did, and they were good for a goal right up until the death. What won the match? Attrittion, looks like Ferguson might have learnt a thing or two about tactics over the years.

On this form Park should start every game.

Exhausted, I go to bed.

Allez les rouge

I have heard no reports of crowd trouble, is this correct? Hope so.

The suntan drained from my face as soon as I saw the team sheet for this game. The mighty Reds have a history of conceding early in Europe and if that happened it would all be on. I honestly believed they were about to age us unnecessarily. It is a delight to report that I was wrong.

They were immense and completely dominated the game straight from the get-go, making chances all over the place. Granted, Ronaldo would have probably scored some of them but Carrick’s through balls and Park’s trickery both deserve great credit. Giggs also put in a long overdue performance.

The penalty miss finished Roma off in spirit, but if they had scored it would have counted as one of the larger injustices in the history of mankind. It was a fine tackle from Wes.

Carlos Tevez single-handedly brought the diving header back into fashion and then all we had to do was cheer on Gary. He could barely keep the smile off his face and when Rio threw him the armband I nearly burst into tears. Manchester United are a club who do things the right way. Speaking of which, De Rossi’s professional foul on Rio in the second half was a disgrace, ultimate cynicism.

I have just finished watching the highlights of Barca and while they do look undefendable they also look like a team you can attack against. I have high hopes that these will be good games. Either way the final will certainly be a case of the irresistible force against the immovable object. Who said the draw was fixed? Who cares? The Reds go marching on.

They were bound to do this to us and we should all have known better. Borough were excellent and could have scored many more than they did. So why has the skimpiest defence in the country gone to pot? Probably just an off day but the Rio/Vidic axis is a handy one to have in working order and now they are both crocked. I don’t want to sensationalise how significant this is, but it is a problem. Heart can be taken from the fact that Peter Cech has also managed to injure his face in another accidental, freak challenge and that will weaken our closest chasers.

Again though, we need to beat Arsenal and in all honesty we need to win at Stamford Bridge now too. If you can do that you deserve to be champions. In the meantime I will be crossing my fingers.

This could well be the cleanest, most efficient, most professional result United have produced in Europe in my lifetime. Two nil away in Italy is an astonishing feat. Poor Roma didn’t even look like they were in it towards the end. It waned as a contest but it is their own fault as they should have scored a couple. Were I a coach at that club I would be deeply ashamed of my side’s inability to take corners. They could have damaged a Vidic free United from one of them.

World’s no.1 John O’Shea fan thedevilinme was very pleased by the Irishman’s contribution but if Vidic gets injured again at the same time as last year then I can honestly see silverware turning into runners up medals.

Park played well and deserves another start. Why does Fergie prefer Carrick to Hargreaves in all of the big games? Does he know something we don’t?

Well it’d be pretty tough to complain if you were a United fan right now. Being the Lord of cynicism that I am this fixture looked like it might be trouble. Villa gave Arsenal one hell of a game in December and the law of averages suggests they are due a result over us. It is something ridiculous like 27 games since they beat us. The last one I can remember is the opener of the 95/96 season when they won 3-1. Our one was scored by a floppy haired teenager called David at the death, it was an absolute screamer that nobody seems to mention anymore.

What will be mentioned in the future is Ronaldo’s opener. Judge Crinkley maintains that every time you watch him play the guy does something to make the price of the ticket worth while. That is a very difficult comment to disagree with. I thought immediately after the goal that we would have to start playing him as a striker, so of course he immediately sets up Tevez with a cross that David chap would have been more than proud of. What on earth are we going to do with him?

I do have a slight concern over his attitude at certain points. Alas, he has a habit of clutching parts of his body that weren’t touched when he goes down and I thought I saw him showing a bit of dissent to Giggs at one of the free kicks. Paranoia you might say, but you only have to annoy Ferguson the tiniest amount for him to look at Real Madrid’s 100 million pounds and think, ‘maybe’.

It was great to see Rooney score two and he could have had a hat-trick but the way the press are going to town is irksome, we have still won nothing yet.

Looking at the table our goal difference is the stuff of fiction at the moment, +53 and twenty ahead of the rest, it is surely worth a point.

On a sadder note, although two of their goals were lucky Arsenal were thoroughly good value for their victory. They never gave in, two down with ten men and it was the perfect response to Bolton’s ‘throw on the defenders’ approach, my respect has been earnt.

Bring on Roma.

In the previous group e-mail I outlined my thoughts on the game as they pretty much still stand.  Reina was doing his best Barthez impression, Ferdinand was supreme and Masherano may possibly be in cahoots with a bookmaker somehwere. 

My utter joy about this result has been replaced by something far more familiar for us Reds though, trepidation.  The press seem to be having a field day on this one and already we are being hailed as the new sliced bread and those in Fleet Street are headed for Premier League headquarters with engraving kit in hand at great pace. 

Well hang on a second.  Our beloved United have a habit of making us suffer now don’t they?  We still have a very tricky run-in which from here is starting to look like it has more banana skins than a gorilla enclosure, two of the best teams in the league, a local derby against a tough old bunch and the eternal thorn in the paw that is Middlesborough.   

I remain optimistic about the league, but only in that ‘we ain’t won nothing yet, keep calm’ kind of way that we have been brutally taught to adopt. 

Mr. Tevez, Mr. Saha, Mr. Rooney: the goal is the net like thing surrounded by the white sticks, please go and introduce yourselves. 

I didn’t see the game but I am frankly astonished by the scoreline. I thought that there was absolutely no way in hell we would emerge from this victory with anything other than a defeat.

The stabbings appall me, this is not Millwall and it is not the nineteen seventies, World Champs or not the Italians have got to get their act together with this stuff and as far as I concerned Roma and their ultras are a bunch of scumbags. I hope we never meet them again.