Graham Poll was quick to speak about Howard Webb’s decision to award a penalty to Manchester United when the club was 2-0 down against Tottenham Hotspur.

Of course Manchester United were fortunate to be awarded a penalty by Howard Webb – even at full speed it appeared clear that Heurelho Gomes played the ball away from Michael Carrick’s feet. The ball moved away virtually at right angles, telling any referee – and particularly one of Webb’s ability and experience – that the ball had been played by the keeper.

Actually, replays show that Michael Carrick touched the ball to change the direction, with the intention of rounding the goalkeeper. Then Gomes got a touch to the ball. Webb, in his explanation, said he saw Carrick get a touch to the ball and saw the goalkeeper clatter in to our player and thought it was a penalty. It wasn’t but it certainly wasn’t the worst decision in the World. The argument that the ball changed direction is ridiculous because the ball first changed direction because of Carrick.

Outside the penalty area, if a player wins the ball but then collides with his whole body in to his opponent, it is a freekick. No questions asked. In the penalty area, if a goalkeeper wins the ball but then collides with his whole body in to his opponent, it shouldn’t be a penalty. Ok, fine.

However, it seems the rules change again. If a United player is tackled then taken out, it shouldn’t be a penalty. If a United player is doing the tackling, then it should be a penalty, as Poll seems to argue when looking at Darren Fletcher’s sending off on Tuesday.

Italian referee Roberto Rosetti had a fine match and can justify in law the penalty he gave after Darren Fletcher brought down Cesc Fabregas. When commentators and former players say: ‘He got the ball, it can’t be a foul,’ they are wrong. Even though Fletcher got a slight touch on the ball, Rosetti felt it was impossible for the Manchester United midfielder to avoid taking his opponent in the follow.

If this isn’t the most blatant case of one rule for one team and another rule for everyone else, then I don’t know what is! Gomes took out his opponent in the follow but Poll argued that it shouldn’t been a penalty regardless!

In hindsight, Fletcher will be wondering what the hell he was thinking about going for that ball. The game was over and it didn’t matter if Cesc Fabregas buried it in the net. But Fletcher being Fletcher played with 100%, committing himself entirely to the cause. In doing that, he got the ball away from Fabregas before bringing him down, just as Gomes did to Carrick. Webb’s decision was hailed as the one that “gave” United the title, whilst Graham Poll reckons Rosetti got it right!

I personally find it absolutely scandalous that Fletcher was sent off, but I’m not bothered about the penalty as it meant nothing. The infuriating part is that the referee will not be held accountable. What a ludicrous system it is to have no appeals for reds cards, apart from in the case of mistaken identity! That basically means referees have free reigns on their decisions and behaviour during the game, with the consequences incomprehensible.

For Darren Fletcher, Rome might be his last chance to ever play in a European Cup final, and the dedication he has shown during our European campaign meant he was certain to start. He has been denied what could prove to be the biggest game of his career and certainly a medal because of inept refereeing and thanks to the no appeals rule, Rosetti will not be held accountable.

For Chelsea, they have been denied their chance to put to bed the devils of last season thanks to the horrendous refereeing in their semi-final against Barcelona. Abidal will also miss the final because Anelka tripped over his own feet and the referee got it wrong.

How infuriating that one man can make such dreadful decisions and our players and clubs suffer as a consequence. However, the contrast between Fletcher’s behaviour after his sending off and Drogba’s behaviour at the final whistle should be noted. Fletcher walked off the field a broken man, sheepishly looking in the referee’s direction, whilst Drogba charged on to it effin and blindin. Respect the referee? Yeah right.

But then, why should we respect referees who make ridiculous decisions? We’ve had two massive games on Tuesday and Wednesday and the referees have cost players and teams the biggest nights in their careers. And given Poll’s inability to judge a decision, it looks as though an English referee wouldn’t have done a better job.

When oh when will we use video refereeing?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Sitting at the opposite end of the pitch, there was no way I could see Michael Carrick deserving that penalty. The direction of the ball changed, something all media commentaries have picked up on, meaning Gomes had made a save. But at 2-0 down and our title challenge hanging in the balance I’d happily take it.

It was only upon seeing replays that I found some sympathy for Howard Webb in his decision. Obviously he was getting ripped to pieces for awarding a controversial penalty at Old Trafford but the decision wasn’t ‘the worst ever’, as some people seemed to claim.

The ball changed direction, first and foremost, because Carrick kicked it to change its direction, with the intention of rounding the keeper. Gomes then hit the ball further wide whilst colliding with the player. Outside of the penalty area, if a player made contact with the ball then took out his opponent, it would be a freekick. For whatever reason, the rules change for inside the area.

Now, had the decision been made in the final minutes during a game United were losing or drawing, I would understand the media obsession that followed. Crucial decisions like that mean points and can swing title races and relegation battles wide open. But that’s not what happened.

The penalty was scored with half an hour to play. Tottenham had to hold on for just half an hour to leave with the three points and could afford to concede one in that time to at least go away with something. But they didn’t. They went on to concede four goals in twelve minutes and the country are outraged with the penalty decision? The fact that United added Carlos Tevez to the attack and were able to rip Spurs to shreds suggests that we probably would have gone on to get something out of the game. The first goal was fortuitous but there was nothing debatable about the other four!

Jermaine Jenas, with all his irony, claimed Webb crumbled under the pressure. Surely “crumbling” would be a perfect way to describe a team’s performance which saw them go 2-0 up at half time only to lose 5-2.

Harry Redknapp claimed there was no way Spurs would have lost had the penalty not been awarded. Ludicrous! Nobody knows what the result would have been but to rule out a United win given the way Spurs gave up after the scoreline turned to 2-1 is ridiculous. Redknapp was simply covering up the weak mentality his team has and his lack of preparation for a United comeback.

I watched Match of the Day and thoroughly enjoyed seeing our goals but was left irritated by Alan YSB Hansen and Gary Lineker’s obsession with the decision. Little attention was paid to the fact we totally destroyed Spurs in the second half, as if one penalty kick amounted to five goals.

The most striking decision fluffed by Webb was not the penalty though.

It was the decision not to send off Palacios for a disgusting challenge on Ronaldo. In full view of the referee, Palacios charged at Ronaldo, lifting both feet of the ground, studs showing, at the height of Ronaldo’s knee. Fortunately he skipped it out of the way.

We’ve seen Ronaldo sent off for something similar in the past, although his challenge wasn’t quite as dangerous. On derby day back in 2006, Ronaldo lunged at Andy Cole with one high foot. He didn’t make contact with the player but there were no complaints about the sending off.

BBC: The Portuguese winger was angry after being tackled heavily by Stephen Jordan and took his revenge on Cole, throwing himself into a tackle that did not make contact but still brought him a red card.

We had been playing for just six minutes when Palacios should have been sent off, the score still 0-0. Webb didn’t even book him. I agree with Redknapp, if this ref is our best, who is our worst? The guy had a perfect view of a blatant red card and played the advantage, not even calling Palacios back for a talking to!

Missed Palacios’ disgusting challenge?

So, do Spurs fans feel robbed? Which would they prefer? To play at Old Trafford with ten men for 83 minutes or concede a dodgy penalty with half an hour to play when they’re 2-0 up? It’s a no-brainer.

Mark Lawrenson has since sensibly claimed that Webb’s penalty decision hasn’t handed United the title.

A few Liverpool fans I’ve spoken to feel Howard Webb’s decision to award Manchester United a penalty on Saturday might have cost them the title. It hasn’t. That’s not the reason United are closing in on their 18th title.

The fact that they went on to score four goals after that is more a pointer to why they are edging Liverpool out. After all, they had Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez and Berbatov on the field. They would have scored to launch their comeback eventually, penalty or not. And it was the type of performance that suggests they have come out of their dodgy spell and are flying again.

I also saw Liverpool game from the weekend and was amazed by how little attention the media paid to their favourable decisions. Javier Macherano dived to win a freekick from which their first goal was scored whilst Lucas assisted Liverpool’s second with his hand. In a 3-1 win, these were two crucial decisions that Martin Atkinson got wrong. Yet when United are wrongly awarded a penalty in a 5-2 win, apparently we’ve been gifted the title!

The Mirror: Hull boss Phil Brown was again left bemoaning his luck as the free-kick that led to Alonso’s goal just before halftime looked to have been won by a dive from Javier Mascherano that fooled referee Martin Atkinson.

BBC: Hull were left aggrieved by some of referee Martin Atkinson’s decisions but their performance should give manager Phil Brown optimism that they can avoid relegation. Hull were clearly unhappy with the performance of referee Atkinson and felt there had been a handball by Lucas Leiva in the build up to Liverpool’s second goal.

So where are all the headlines singling out the decisions which kept Liverpool in the title race, mirroring the claims that United have won the title thanks to Webb’s decision?

Lest we forget, Manchester United should have had a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup final after Ledley King stood on Cristiano Ronaldo’s foot in the box. King even had the nerve to applaud the referee’s decision to book Ronaldo!

Also remember how United are not in the FA Cup final after Mike “Manchester United fan” Riley failed to award a penalty for the blatent foul on Danny Welbeck in a game which finished 0-0 after two hours! Welbeck had beaten the keeper and both Jagielka and Moyes admitted it was a penalty but where was the outrage from the media?

This isn’t me claiming the referees are against United, of course not. As a team in the top four we often enjoy more favourable decisions from officials than teams in the relegation zone, but this insane obsession with Manchester United in this country is baffling. I wouldn’t mind the ridiculous statements that referees had earnt us titles as much if there were the same sensationalised stories when decisions go against us. This doesn’t happen though. Had United beaten Everton on penalties after we’d got away with bringing down one of their players in front of an open goal, there’d be hell to pay! Why would the Everton player have gone down, if not fouled, when he had already beaten the goalkeeper?! How biased is that referee?!

During one weekend so close to the end of the season, United got a dodgy decision in a 5-2 win, whilst Liverpool got two dodgy decisions in a 3-1 win. It happens to teams up and down on the country on a weekly basis but for some reason, the decisions that wrongly go in United’s favour are blown out of all proportion whilst the decisions that wrongly go against us are swept under the carpet.

I obviously hope United do win the title this year and we look favourable to do so, but only a mug will be claiming in May that our title success was down to refereeing decisions. I can only hope that if Liverpool were top of the table the media would be highlighting the decisions they’ve been awarded this season.

For example, the fact they’ve been awarded eight penalties in all competitions this season and two against, compared to the four penalties in United’s favour and three against. Or maybe they’d look at the fact Liverpool have played against ten men in more than a fifth of their league games (playing against ten men on eight occasions!) and have had nobody sent off. Sadly, I doubt anyone would bat an eyelid!

Hated and adored, but never ignored.

For more of the same, check out the Manchester United blog, The Republik of Mancunia.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Chelsea were widely regarded as favourites to win the league this year after Luiz Felipe Scolari was appointed.

The World Cup winning manager was surely a step up from the inexperienced Avram Grant, claimed those who were making the predictions, therefore by default Chelsea would make that step from the second placed team in the country to the best.

I did argue at the time that no South American World Cup winning manager had made a success of a domestic career in Europe. I also mentioned that my mam could have won the World Cup with that Brazilian side. I also questioned how much success he’d actually had with Portugal, given their Euro 2004 final defeat to Greece of all teams, despite playing on their home turf.

I guess I just wasn’t prepared to jump on the bandwagon.

Seven months after being appointed, Scolari was sacked, with United four points clear with two games in hand.

Well, that’s them out of the title race, I thought. No manager they could get half way through a season would be up to the standard required to mount a serious title challenge.

Then Guus Hiddink got the job.

A Proven Track Record

Hiddink rightly has a great reputation as a manager following the great work he’s put in to national and club teams.

He managed to get rid of the bitching culture with Holland whilst he was there, employing attractive football and stamping down on the rows that ravaged the team previously. He took them to the World Cup semi-finals before they were knocked out on penalties by Brazil.

South Korea featured in five consecutive World Cups before Hiddink took the job, but had failed to win a single match! However, in the group stages Hiddink’s team beat Portugal and Poland, as well as drawing against the USA, progressing to the next round on top of the group. They went on to beat Italy in the Round of 16, then Spain in the quarter-finals. Hiddink was in the World Cup semi-finals again, but South Korea were beaten by Germany, although nobody could argue they hadn’t massively overachieved.

The next World Cup came around and Hiddink was in charge of Australia, who hadn’t qualified for 32 years before his appointment and never scored a goal or won a game in the competition. Hiddink focused on improving their defence which earnt them qualification. In their first game at the World Cup under Hiddink they beat Japan 3-1. They were defeated by Brazil before drawing with Croatia to earn them a place in the next round for the first time in their history. Unfortunately for them, they were drawn against eventual winners Italy, who only won thanks to an extremely controversial 95th minute penalty.

Two years later he had guided Russia to Euro 2008 and progressed past the group stages after beating Sweden and holders Greece. Russia beat Holland 3-1 in the quarter-finals before being drawn against eventual winners Spain in the semis, where they lost.

It’s not just International football where Hiddink has thrived though, with his time at PSV in particularly standing out. He won six league titles with them as well as the European Cup. In his second stint at the club he guided them to the Champions League semi-finals where they were knocked out on away goals thanks to a 91st minute goal  from AC Milan in PSV’s 3-1 victory.

Future at Chelsea?

Since taking over the shambles that was the Scolari regime, Hiddink has inspired confidence in the players again. Chelsea’s title challenge is not dead in the water anymore; they are currently  carrying a massive advantage in the Champions League after their 3-1 victory at Anfield. He’s been a big hit with the players who are keen for him to stay on next season.

However, Hiddink has honourably ruled himself out of the job, most recently last week.

“I have my contract with Russia and I do it whole-heartedly,” Hiddink said. “Two years ago, we renewed it and we are educating the young players in Russia now as well. The moral standards are sometimes going up and down in our business but I want to see it through to the end. Nobody has spoken to me about it at Chelsea as it was clear beforehand.

It’s about the Russian players as well. They are not officially involved in making a decision in ending a contract which has not yet expired but they are part of this process. I was the initiator to renew a lot of things with them. I am not a great moralist of the world but I owe to the players. I am challenging them all the time and, with all the respect, they could blame me for not standing to my own values. It’s very important for me to stick to my word.”

Morals and fulfilling obligations are rare in football these days, so to see a man so intent on ensuring he behaves in a respectable way is refreshing to see. He made a commitment to Russia and wants to see it out. Whilst Chelsea would certainly pay him a hell of a lot more, there is no hint of him begrudging his commitments or trying to weasel out of them.

Regardless, Chelsea captain John Terry sadly seems to think Hiddink’s word and morals are good for nothing.

“Things have gone very well and I’m sure there will be talks ongoing,” Terry said this week. “If we keep progressing there’s only going to be one option. Jose was a great manager and had some great times here. But it’s someone else’s turn now to kick on. Mourinho is a world class manager, a lot of the players are still in contact with him. But we need stability at the club now. The manager’s done brilliantly and got us playing freely. But it’s down to the board to make those decisions.”

Maybe Terry’s love for Chelsea means he sees the pull of his club being incredibly strong or maybe he’s spent too long at Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea and thinks they can always get their own way if they throw a tonne of money at the situation, but it’s clear JT thinks Hiddink will tell Russia where to go this summer.

I hope Terry is wrong for several reasons. Firstly, Chelsea will be a much greater threat with Hiddink than without. Secondly, it would be good to see someone in football do the right thing rather than the thing that earns them more money, without being forced. And thirdly, for an entirely selfish reason, that maybe Hiddink could be the man to replace Sir Alex.

The Not So Special One (TNSSO)

Jose Mourinho has been vying for the Manchester United job, talking about how wonderful our team is and claiming nobody would turn down the United job, with our manager even mentioning him as a possibility. He has a ‘big personality’ so therefore has been made the favourite to replace Ferguson, without any of the basics being considered.

The reason why Mourinho should never become United manager should form a brick wall to keep him away from Old Trafford. United pride themselves on attacking football, something established within the roots of the club back with Sir Matt Busby. With Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, Mourinho played controlled football, with their strength being their ability not to concede rather than their ability to dazzle and relentlessly attack their opponents.

I’ve heard people say Mourinho could change, but I’m not entirely sure where the evidence for this is. His successful career has been based on defensive football, not attacking football, and switching between the two isn’t an easy thing to do. I’ve heard people say that Mourinho wouldn’t be able to play defensive football with the attacking players we have, but like he did at Chelsea with the likes of Robben, Duff and Gudjohnsen, he’d just get rid of them and bring in solid central midfielders instead.

With Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, Mourinho has made no effort to bring young players through the ranks. The focus on youth is again something in the foundations of this club, going back to the Busby Babes and seen most recently in the faith put in Federico Macheda by our manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson has built his Manchester United team time and again, winning the Premiership with every team and winning the European Cup with two of them. Whilst people are quick to talk about the money spent by Ferguson, it is forgotten that Ron Atkinson had left us in the relegation zone when Ferguson took over.

Three and a half years later, United had won the FA Cup, their first trophy in five years. The following year it was European success, in the form of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup, beating Barcelona and European Champions Red Star Belgrade. The following year it was the League Cup, then after that the long succession of League titles, FA Cups and European Cups.

Mourinho took over at Porto after they had finished second in the league, one point off top spot. He turned them from the second best team by one point in Portugal to the best team in Portugal. After United were denied victory by the linesman against Porto, Mourinho’s team had the easiest route to the final in years, taking on Lyon, Deportivo and Monaco to win the trophy. A European Cup is a European Cup, but Mourinho didn’t have to play the best teams in Europe that year.

At Chelsea, he turned the second best team in England to the best team in England. A team that had been built by Ranieri, with Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Claude Makelele, Petr Cech, Joe Cole, John Terry, Eidur Gudjohsen, Damien Duff, William Gallas, Wayne Bridge all there before Mourinho. Chelsea had reached the semi-finals in Europe the season before Mourinho took over, something never bettered by Jose.

The squad that Avram Grant was left with was considerably worse than the one Mourinho had been given, despite hundreds of millions of pounds spent. Chelsea’s best players were in their 30s. Where were their future replacements?

John Obi Mikel was brought in as a Makelele replacement, but who’s supposed to be taking over from Lampard? Steve Sidwell? Who can replace the goals scored by Drogba? Salomon Kalou? Who will step up to the plate when Terry and Carvalho are gone? Tal Ben-Haim and Khalid Boulahrouz? There was absolutely no plan for the future with Mourinho’s Chelsea, which is why they were eight points behind United on the day the title was won during Jose’s last full season and why Chelsea have won nothing since.

Inter Milan won the title for three consecutive years before Mourinho took over. They will win the league again this year but are out of the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, which they won the two years before Mourinho took the job.

With Manchester United, maybe Mourinho would win a title or two, again being given one of the best, if not the best, team in the league. But as the years went by, he’d sell off our flair players, he’d adopt a defensive style of football and would have no idea who to buy to replace Rooney or Vidic or Carrick or Evra.

I’m not trying to belittle Mourinho’s success or make out like he’s a rubbish manager, because that isn’t my belief at all. You don’t win the trophies he’s won without having skill and without being able to motivate players. I just want more than what Mourinho has on offer in Ferguson’s replacement.

Hiddink please

Whilst I generally tend to stick my head in the sand whenever replacing Ferguson is mentioned, like many reds, given we would rather pretend it’s not going to happen, I find it hard even to think of managers up to the job. Martin O’Neill recently became my favourite for Ferguson’s replacement, that is until he showed gutlessness in giving up on the UEFA Cup in pursuit of a top four place he won’t get. Whilst former Chelsea man Mourinho gets all the attention when this topic is brought about, Guus Hiddink slips under the radar. Would he cut the mustard at United? I’d say so!

Whilst he may be remembered more for his success in International football, just like Scolari, Hiddink actually has a European domestic pedigree to support his cause too, thanks to what he achieved with PSV and the improvements he’s made in such a short period of time at Chelsea. It wouldn’t be a gamble appointing him as Ferguson’s replacement.

We don’t have to look much further than the example of our very own Park Ji-Sung to see Hiddink’s faith in youth. Park had just turned 19-years-old when Hiddink was appointed South Korea manager and his International career was all but over. As a failed defensive midfielder, it looked as though his future was destined to be with Japan’s Division 2 Kyoto Purple Sanga.

Hiddink believed in Park though, bringing him back in to the International squad and shifting his position to the wing. Two years later, a 21-year-old Park scored the winning goal for South Korea against Portugal, ensuring they got out of the group at the expense of the European Championship semi-finalists. He also scored in the penalty shoot-out against Spain to see his team progress to the semi-finals.

Guus then took Park with him to PSV where he shone, particularly in the 3-1 win over AC Milan in the European Cup semi-final. It was this game which saw Park attract attention from all over Europe, with Manchester United successfully securing a deal for him that summer. He has since won two Premiership titles, two League Cups, and is now the captain of his country, having earned 77 caps and 116 appearances for United. He has Hiddink to thank for his career.

Now, my opinion of Hiddink hinges on him staying true to his word. However, with another year to go on his Russian contract, we could do a lot worse than bringing him to United next year. He can play the football we enjoy, he has proved a success with European domestic football, he values youth, he commands a great deal of respect, he’s an honourable man and he even got pissed with George Best! Should United be considering him? I certainly hope so.

For more of the same, check out the Manchester United blog, The Republik of Mancunia.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Upon returning from Old Trafford on Sunday, walking on cloud nine following Federico Macheda’s late winner after we had been losing with just over ten minutes to go, the texts started pouring in. There were the celebratory messages from fellow reds, then the bitter ones from the blues I know. “Lucky b**tards!” was the general theme of these messages.

Manchester United are often regarded as a “lucky” team given the frequency of late equalisers and winners we score. I visited a Liverpool forum earlier in the season following United’s late win over Bolton, courtesy of a Dimitar Berbatov goal.

One Liverpool fan posted: “See, that’s where they truly are Jammy B**tards. If that had been us we’d have bloody conceded in the last minute, not scored.”

To which another replied: “If it happens once, its luck. When they do it every season for the last 15 seasons, its not luck.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself!

Five minutes of injury time were announced on Sunday, with two of those arguably coming from the ridiculous length of time it took James Milner to get off the field! Martin O’Neil mentioned this, Aston Villa fansites talked about it and pretty much every bitter text I received mentioned it. The fact that the ball hit the back of the net on 92 minutes and 4 seconds seemed to pass every one by. The fact that Sky Sports counted up over 4 minutes of stoppages in the second half after the game was irrelevant. United scored late, they won, and they were lucky!

I’d be the first to admit that for large periods of the game Villa looked like the better side. Every time the ball went over the top of Gary Neville and John O’Shea I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for them to put us to bed. But it just never materialised. The brilliant Ashley Young would beat our right-back time and again but then wouldn’t be well enough supported to turn in to anything. Whilst truly thankful for Villa’s more reserved tactics, I was fully aware that if they committed a few more players to the attack we would probably lose.

Then with fifteen minutes left to play O’Neill took off the attacking James Milner and replaced him with the defensive Nigel Reo-Coker, which is just the signal our players need. The opposition are settling for the draw, let’s go and get them! And that’s exactly what we did. From that moment on we dominated the play, whilst Villa still brought about the odd break, but both Darren Fletcher and Danny Welbeck forced great saves from Brad Friedel in those remaining few minutes, after Cristiano Ronaldo had scored our equaliser and before Macheda scored the winner.

That’s not to say “luck” doesn’t have any place in football, because lucky incidents can happen in matches, but it’s all about what you do with them. For example, in the Champions League final in Moscow, Chelsea were on the attack when Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic got in the way. Unfortunately, the ball deflected off both players before landing perfectly at the feet of Frank Lampard. Edwin Van der Sar, who was moving towards where the ball should have landed had it not taken the deflections, slipped when trying to change direction, leaving Lampard with a simple finish to level the score. This followed a period of 45 minutes where United had been superior and should have been 3-0 up. But we hadn’t taken our chances and Chelsea, whose chance had been served on a plate, took theirs. Were they lucky to score? To a certain degree. It’s hard to deny an element of luck when the ball deflects perfectly off the two centre backs and the goalkeeper slips and is on the floor. Still, United didn’t put the ball in the back of the net for Chelsea, Lampard still had to score, and he did. Fair play.

However, United are regarded the lucky ones because John Terry slipped when taking his penalty. Were Chelsea lucky when Van der Sar slipped? Yes. Were United lucky that Terry slipped? Yes. But fourteen players took penalties that evening from exactly the same spot and only one player fell over when taking his penalty. Just like Lampard made the most of the opportunity presented to him in the first half, Terry didn’t make the most of his opportunity. Are we lucky that our players didn’t fall over when taking their penalty? Can it all be put down to luck? Or is it technique? Or is it a bit of both?

Nine years earlier the same “lucky” criticisms were levelled at us when we lifted the European Cup at the Nou Camp. United had been losing since the sixth minute and then scored two goals in the three minutes of allotted injury time.

“Tonight it was not the best team that won but the luckiest,” said Bayern Munich’s Lothar Matthaus. “But we must not blame anyone. Especially in normal time. It’s bitter, sad and unbelievable. We’re all disappointed. You can’t blame the team. We had the match in control for 90 minutes. We had bad luck, hitting the post and the crossbar. What happened afterwards is simply inexplicable.”

Now, before kick-off, I was feeling anything but lucky! We were without both Roy Keane and Paul Scholes for that match because they were facing suspensions for their yellow cards. This meant our right-winger, David Beckham, was shifted to the central position for the first time. It meant our left-winger, Ryan Giggs, was shifted to the right wing for the first time (this was long before the days of Cristiano Ronaldo and our other wingers swapping sides constantly during a game!). It meant Jesper Blomqvist (remember him?) was starting on the left and Nicky Butt had been drafted in to the centre. Were we lucky to be playing the biggest game for our club since 1968 without our two most effective players and our other midfielders forced out of their natural positions?

Is it lucky that we were drawn in a group with Bayern Munich and Barcelona, knowing just two teams were going through to the next round? Is it luck that we had to face Inter Milan in the quarter-finals? Or Juventus in the semi-finals? Or Bayern Munich in the final? When you consider Bayern Munich knocked out Kaiserslautern in the quarters and Dynamo Kyiv in the semis, I know which team I’d say had luck on their side in the Champions League that year!

Four days before we faced Bayern Munich we were playing in the FA Cup final. Less than a week before that we were playing in the crucial final game of the season, where we had gone 1-0 down against Tottenham Hotspur and needed a win to secure the title. In contrast, the Germans had wrapped up their title weeks ago and had yet to play in their domestic final. Were we lucky that we had been slogging away for results for weeks leading up the final whilst our opponents had been resting and preparing?

Is it lucky for us that Bayern Munich hit the woodwork twice or should they just rue their inability to hit the target? Every time a striker lines up a shot against United and it hits the woodwork, it is saved by Van der Sar, or goes out for a throw-in, do we thank our good luck that the ball didn’t go in? Of course not. I don’t see why it should be any different in a Cup final. You don’t get Brownie points because you shoot in the direction of the goal but don’t even force a save from the keeper!

Essentially, of course luck plays a part in football. When things work in your favour which are completely out of your control, like deflections, like your opponents best players being injured, like a player having no clue where the ball is but managing to get a block in anyway, like a ref getting a decision completely wrong, then yes, I’d say that is good luck. But scoring in injury time is not lucky. If you put a move together that your opponents can’t stop and it ends in a goal, then how could that ever be considered lucky? If your opponents fail to stop you doing this twice in injury time, surely that is a far greater reflection on their ability and mentality than it is your luck!

Lucky
adjective
having good things happen to you by chance

If your team has a “win at all costs” mentality, like Manchester United do, then the results will rarely come from chance. The late goals come because of their need to win and their ability to do so. How many other Premiership managers, particularly those actually competing for something, would give an inexperienced 17-year-old half an hour in a vital game? How many other 17-year-olds could make their Premiership début and deliver a perfect Cruyff turn followed by a delightful strike capable of beating one of the league’s most experienced goalkeepers? It is the combination of hunger and talent that sees United win against the odds. That doesn’t guarantee us a win every week, obviously, but it is what has earned us our last minute winners and our reputation as lucky.

For a person or team to be “lucky”, there is the notion the goals achieved are done so by accident, they occur at random, they are not the result of skill or determination. That, by definition, rules United out from being the lucky team others might label us as. Over the past couple of decades, United have been lead by the most determined manager about with a team filled with some of the most skilled in the World. That is why we score late goals and that is why we went top again on Sunday, because we will strive to win at all costs, whilst Villa were happy to take home a point.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

On Manchester United forums all over the internet, on any thread which discusses which man will replace Sir Alex Ferguson, at least one or two former United players will be mentioned. Until his melt-down at Sunderland, Roy Keane was a favourite, whilst Mark Hughes was fancied for the job before he took over at City. Eric Cantona is the dream, whilst Steve Bruce is showing his capabilities with Wigan, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is doing a cracking job with the Reserves, who are currently second in their league.

There is the desire for familiarity at Manchester United, given Ferguson will have probably been in the job for a quarter of a century, or there abouts, by the time he leaves. It makes sense that the fans would crave the replacement to be someone we know all about who understands how things work at United, who has worked under Ferguson and can continue on with his excellent work.

Regardless, the idea of having one of your playing heroes as the manager of your club would surely appeal to any fan. A player whose name you’ve chanted and worn on the back of your shirt, a player you would constantly praise and defend to anyone who would listen, a player who represented what you thought your club was all about.

Newcastle fans have been granted that wish this week and whilst part of me finds it highly amusing, there is a part of me that envies them.

Newcastle are currently in the relegation zone, two points adrift of Blackburn above them and two points clear of Middlesbrough below them. Whilst the phrase ‘they’re too big to go down’ has been banded about over the past few months, the truth is, no club is too big to go down. Having a stadium that seats over 52,000 fans won’t save you from relegation.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Villa are amongst their remaining games, as well as fellow relegation fighters Middlesbrough and Portsmouth. They have a tough task ahead of them and it is unusual that a man with no managerial experience would be appointed. He hasn’t even started his UEFA Pro Licence course and the closest he’s come to football management since retiring from playing is talking about managers on Match of the Day.

“Some of the ex-player, ex-manager pundits are the worst,” Ferguson said last week. “It’s a disgrace the way they sit there criticising guys they used to play with, just to make a bit of an impact. I couldn’t do that.”

Shearer is stepping up to the plate now, after repeatedly playing down speculation linking him to managing his former club, and all credit to him.

It has to be said that right now is the perfect time for Shearer to take over though because if Newcastle do go down, he can’t be held accountable given their situation at the time of him taking over, and if he keeps them up, his status in Geordie land would rise to unmeasurable realms.

Newcastle fans have been mocked over the years for their desperation to see Shearer appointed after another failed manager has been shown the door. If a manager with years of experience can’t win them anything, why would they think a complete novice like Shearer could?

However, it’s not necessarily his tactical ability that could save Newcastle, rather the effect he will have on the players and the fans. St James Park has had 4,000 empty seats on average this season, with their lowest attendance seeing 8,000 empty seats. Without question, every home game between now and the end of the season will be sold out. It could be argued that having a full stadium with fans cheering the team on could contribute to better performances. But Newcastle’s ground won’t be filled with just any fans, but deliriously happy fans who are all over-joyed to see their beloved idol in charge. The atmosphere will be immense and this should surely have a positive effect on the players and their performances.

The feeling around the city will be different, more hopeful and less depressed. The fans are not too chuffed with the ‘cockney mafia’ in charge of their club and these feelings will no doubt have filtered down to the players. Everyone connected with the club will certainly have plenty more to be cheerful about and winning the mental battle, having the belief that they will stay in the Premiership, might be all that is needed to separate them from the three teams that go down.

They’ve living the dream at the moment and whilst Shearer might not be the most practical decision, he certainly is the one they all wanted. Enjoy this feeling for as long as it lasts Geordies and until I see Cantona manning the dugout at Old Trafford, there will certainly be a part of me that is jealous of you.

For more of the same, check out the Manchester United blog, The Republik of Mancunia.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

I was sitting in the East stand the day Wayne Rooney scored that thunderbolt against Newcastle back in 2005.

We were coming to the end of what had been our worst season for our while, winning nothing and finishing third, the first time since the Premiership begun that we had gone two seasons without winning the title. That day, we’d gone a goal down to Newcastle thanks to another Tim Howard error, despite dominating the match. It looked to be another ‘one of those days’, like the one four days prior when we lost to Everton and had two men sent off.

As we approached the hour mark, things went from bad to worse, as Wayne Rooney, the only player on the pitch who seemed capable of turning the game around, started limping. These were the days of the shallow squad, with Silvestre, Kleberson and O’Shea our only options to replace him from the bench.

The ball was booted forward in the direction of Giggs only for Peter Ramage to head clear out of the box. Rooney took a couple of steps then made perfect connection with his right boot. The ball swung left then swerved back to the right, the power on it leaving Shay Given, who was stood on that side of the goal, with no chance.

Whilst I’d say my view of the goal was close to perfect, it was only upon returning home that I was able to see what was taking place moments before Rooney’s strike. As play was going on, Rooney was mythering the referee about something or other, with just one eye on the ball. Rooney was just a teenager back then but things haven’t changed much, with him spending large chunks of the game talking with or shouting at the ref.

Respect

Whilst I think the principles behind the Respect campaign are admirable, I don’t have a lot of time for it, thanks to the referee’s inability to follow it through. On a weekly basis I see players getting in the referee’s face every time a freekick is awarded in Cristiano Ronaldo’s favour and the referee hasn’t given out a single yellow card for dissent to the opposition this season at Old Trafford for it.

I remember Ronaldo being awarded a yellow card for dissent at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, for wagging his finger at the referee, in a ‘oh ho no, you got that one wrong mister!’ fashion, whilst on his knees, yards away from the referee in the last minute of the game.

Two days later we played Middlesbrough and their thug of a captain planted his studs just below Rodrigo Possebon’s knee. He was rightly shown a straight red card but had the audacity to contest it. His team mates surrounded the referee, shouting in his face, pulling on his arms, and none of them were booked.

This is just an example I’m familiar with and I’m not for one second suggesting United are the only ones to have done badly by this. The point I’m highlighting is the inconsistency with it all. If all players who mouthed back at the referee were shown the yellow card, they would quickly learn to stop doing it.

As it is, a small number of players are booked for having a go at the referee, whilst the vast majority get away with it. Respect isn’t something that is given freely, it is earned and demanded. If the referees in this country had been entirely consistent with the Respect campaign then it would have been a success. This hasn’t been the case though because they’re so hit and miss. It depends on the ref, the match, the situation and the player as to who will be booked for dissent and who won’t.

One of the worst offenders for giving the referee hassle is Wayne Rooney. Whilst I don’t see much problem in him wittering in referee’s ear, like he did against Newcastle all those years ago, I have a big problem with the frequency in which he verbally abuses the referee. “F**k off!” will be the response given when a referee makes a decision Rooney doesn’t agree with. It is bang out of line and as a role model for young lads all over the country, he should behave better.

However, if a referee showed Rooney a yellow card every time he told them to do one, it would put an end to it. He might not be the sharpest tool in the box but even he could learn swearing at the ref equals yellow card. I want to emphasise that I’m not taking all responsibility away from Rooney here, however I do believe some of the responsibility lies with the referee for not handling the situation properly.

At times though, Rooney’s foul language and treatment of referees seems to get confused with his passion for the game and his desire to win. Telling the referee to “f**k off” because a decision has gone against him is nothing to do with his passion or his fiery nature.

Sent Off

It was a naff day at Fulham. We’d gone down to ten men and gone a goal down as a result at the beginning of the game. Despite putting on the pressure and forcing brilliant saves from the opposition, we conceded a second on the break. The players were fed up, the fans were fed up and everyone else associated with the club was fed up.

United were awarded a freekick and Ryan Giggs, in his urgency to get on with the game, took it from where the ball had fallen, rather than from where the foul occurred. The ball reached Rooney and Dowd had blown his whistle, instructing for the freekick to be retaken. Dowd was right to do this as there was some distance between the two spots. Still, it was frustrating because we just wanted to get on with it.

Rooney picked up the ball and lobbed it in the direction of the correct spot for the retake. Was he angry and frustrated when he did this? Yes, of course he was, but his act arose from his desire to get on with the game, just as Giggs had also shown in taking the freekick in a hurry. To award a yellow card for throwing the ball back with force to the position where it should be retaken is pathetic. This wasn’t petulance or throwing the ball away or an attack on the referee, it was a frustrated player wanting to get the ball in to play. On what planet can that be seen as a deserved yellow card?

It was what followed which showed the negative side of Rooney, as he angrily confronted the referee. Whilst I fully support why he was so angry, as much as bemused, I can’t support a player angrily getting in a referee’s face. He was joined by Rio Ferdinand and Darren Fletcher, who were equally as surprised and annoyed by the situation, but still, it is unbecoming behaviour which the Respect campaign was attempting to wipe out. It must be noted that neither Ferdinand nor Fletcher were booked for dissent, again undermining the FA’s campaign.

What we saw at Fulham last weekend were the best and worst sides of Rooney, although the worst side only came after he was wrongly sent off. The two sides of him have blurred in to one though, meaning it was deemed the right decision for Phil Dowd to give him a second yellow.

The Daily Mail: Rooney over-reacted to Dowd’s whistle by hurling the ball, with child-like petulance, down the field. Dowd raised a yellow card, then instantly turned it to red. As Rooney left the field, eyes blazing wild, he smashed a corner flag that duly bounced around like a speed ball in gymnasium.

The Guardian: Then Rooney stole the headlines by daftly hurling the ball away in frustration, for which Dowd had no option than to serve up his second yellow card.

Rooney’s behaviour after the booking was worthy of a yellow card which is why the usual negative stereotypes of our player get flung about, calling him “petulant” and the like. In his defence, most players tend to react when they believe they have been dealt with unjustly but it still doesn’t make it acceptable. The point is Rooney did nothing to warrant the yellow card he was given and the talk of his “temperament” should be saved for his reaction to the ridiculous booking, not the incident which brought about the booking. Had Rooney walked off the field calmly, I’d like to think some sections of the press might have pointed out just how ludicrous it was to send him off in the first place!

Rooney punched the corner flag on the way to the tunnel which Fabio Capello felt was enough to label him as a “crazy man” whilst the media believed this was enough to order him to change. Do me a favour! If one of our players is pissed off with a decision and decides to take it out over the corner flag, I’m not going to get too worked up about it (It’s when our players drop-kick spectators that I tend to get a tad nervous!).

Regardless, the only thing Rooney needs to change is his back-chat and aggression shown towards referees. His fiery temperament and nature when on the field, letting his opponents know that he is about and desperately covering every blade of grass to fight for his team is why we love him. I wouldn’t have him any other way. Eric Cantona and Roy Keane make Rooney look like a pussycat and they are the two greatest players I have seen wear our shirt. Rooney reacts because he cares, because of his need to win and because of his love for the game. If that means every now and again he has a ‘moment’, then I’m prepared to put up with it.

His England team-mates felt the need to defend him though after the mauling he got in the press, ahead of the World Cup qualifiers to be played over the next week.

“With Wayne Rooney you don’t get the exceptional talent and player you have without that side of his game,” said David Beckham. “If you take that side out of his game he becomes a different player, a different animal. You don’t want to take that out of him. Sometimes it flows over. He’s done it a few times with myself. It happens. He knows it’s not right, I know it’s not right, but it happens. You don’t want to take that out of him.”

England captain John Terry echoed this sentiment.

“I think some players are born with that passion and fire inside their belly and Wayne’s certainly got that,” he said. “I think if we try and take that away he won’t be the player he is. He’s a world class player, so let him get on with his football. He’s got some great people around him, the experienced lads at Man United and Sir Alex Ferguson, and I’m sure if he steps out of line one of them will talk to him. Wayne knows his limit and we have seen him calm down over the years as he has matured and grown up.”

The England boss has also shown support to Rooney, backtracking on his “crazy man” comments.

“I said it, but it was a joke. He understood that it was a joke,” Capello said. “I was a player and sometimes I did the same. It depends on the moment, the score, the opponents, a lot of things. For me Rooney is a very good player. He’s young. Sometimes his reaction is not so good, but he’s a good player and a good man. I think at this moment he was a little angry because they were losing and he was red-carded. That’s why he did this. But there’s no problem with Rooney in the future. I spoke with him. I’m very happy after I spoke. Sometimes we need to be a little bit aggressive during the game. I hope the level of aggression will be balanced. This is very important. I’m sure he’ll play very, very well with us. We want the team to be aggressive. Good aggression.”

It’s certainly long overdue that somebody had a word with Rooney about his swearing, but the talk of petulance is borne from lazy journalism and a desire to stereotype and criticise England’s brightest stars. If England or Manchester United or any other team had eleven players who worked as hard and cared as much about the game as Rooney, they really could be branded the untouchables.

Take away his fire, passion and aggression then you’re left with a gifted player who won’t fight for the team and who cares more about the pay cheque than the result… and God knows we have enough of them in our league already!

For more like this, check out the Manchester United blog, The Republik of Mancunia.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

There’s been this misconception amongst football fans in England that Cristiano Ronaldo ‘got Wayne Rooney sent off’ at the last World Cup.

Whilst I’ll take Rooney’s word for it, that it was his lack of balance after being repeatedly fouled which lead his football being placed in an unfortunate location, the fact of the matter is the referee felt Rooney stamped on Carvalho and that’s the end of it. If a player stamps on another, a referee has to give a red card.

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of four Portuguese players who ran over to the referee complaining. They all believed it was intentional and wanted to see England’s inspiration, the man who their hopes hung upon, sent off.

Rooney wasn’t best pleased to see his United team-mate getting in the thick of it and shoved him. The referee then showed a red card. After Rooney had gone, Ronaldo winked to the bench and the press picked up on it. Ronaldo got Rooney sent off they claimed and this country believed it.

If Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to stamp on Steven Gerrard’s “golden balls” at the World Cup, with four English players nearby, the country would expect those players to have something to say about it. If Wayne Rooney was one of those players close to the incident but chose to stand with his hands on his hips, not getting involved, I’m pretty sure this country’s press would have something to say about it. Why wasn’t Rooney protesting that his England team mate got stamped on? Why was he allowing his United team mate get away with doing such a thing? He would have been slaughtered if he had chosen his United team-mate over an England player.

Had Ronaldo been sent off for such a stamp on Gerrard and Rooney winked at the bench, in celebration of the fact the opposition’s best player was no longer on the field, the press in this country wouldn’t have thought anything of it. When Ronaldo did it, it earned him the ‘witty’ nickname of Winker, and lead to the belief he ‘got Rooney sent off’.

Three of England’s four penalty takers went on to miss but that was long forgotten. There was no paper bag over the head moments for Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Frank Lampard. They weren’t villains like Gareth Southgate had once been, they managed to slide under the net. It was Ronaldo who was to blame.

Learning to live with the “Cheat”

Following the World Cup 2006, just like the World Cup 1998, United fans had a winger to protect. The country treated both David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo like criminals. The vile chants, the boos, the whistles, the effigies and the vandalism on their property would have been justification enough to get out of England. They didn’t have to put up with it. But they did. The rewards were David Beckham winning the Treble in the following season, whilst Cristiano Ronaldo had to settle for the first league title for United in four years.

The support for Ronaldo from our fans was out of this World. If Rooney didn’t have a problem with him, then neither did we. He always got the loudest cheer when the team sheet was read out, whilst his songs were sung up and down the country, wherever our travelling fans went. We had to over-compensate for the negative reactions to him. The more the rest of this country hated him, the more we loved him. From the right wing, Ronaldo scored 17 league goals, our highest scorer and the third highest scorer in the Premiership.

The hatred for him increased. Focus on his diving became obsessive. Whilst the likes of Steven Gerrard, Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor, amongst others, all dived in embarrassing fashion, it was only Ronaldo who really got branded a cheat time and again.

Following a match against Middlesbrough, their manager called Ronaldo a cheat following the penalty he won. His face with CHEAT emblazened over it covered the papers in the morning. A couple of months later we played his team in the FA Cup and Southgate sheepishly admitted that upon reviewing the footage, it was clear Ronaldo hadn’t dived, but instead lost his balance. Unsurprisingly, the media weren’t as interested in that story.

With every criticism that seemed to be thrown Ronaldo’s direction, our appreciation for him grew. We cheered his name more loudly, we sung his songs with greater passion, we brought Portugal flags to the matches. We offered him every ounce of support we possibly could and we were rewarded for our loyalty. 42 goals in 47 games isn’t a bad return for showing unwavering support for the pantomime villain.

The Premiership title and Champions League trophy, which came along with him being the highest scorer in these competitions, as well as any league in Europe, weren’t too shabby either. With a cocky grin and a thumbs up to the crowd, every person who had called him a one-trick pony, who booed him when he touched the ball, who cheered when he got kicked in to touch, was forced to actually admit that he wasn’t half bad afterall.

Dealing with the rumours

The summer came and like usual, Real Madrid courted him. We’ve seen it all before and there was no real cause for concern. Ronaldo had to realise the transformation he had made under the guidance of the club and he had to see how well supported he had been by our fans. He’d signed a contract the summer before and he had new shiny medals to add to his collection.

This is what being a Manchester United player was all about and at 23-years-old, why would Ronaldo want to give up on that already? He can go to Real Madrid once he’s peaked but he’s at the right club for further development. Nothing to worry about.

However, with Euro 2008 taking place and the country’s press not having a team to focus on, given England’s shameful failure to qualify, Ronaldo’s future became an obsession. Every day the newspapers reported on what he said, what he looked like, what his team-mates thought, what the Real Madrid president had hinted at. For a man who was supposed to be public enemy number one, there certainly was a lot of interest in him from this country.

Instead of saying “I’m staying put”, as he had done in Moscow, Ronaldo was a lot more coy. “You will know in a few days,” he said instead. “Only God knows the future,” he would add. Whilst United fans dismissed this to begin with, it became increasingly difficult to pass all of it off as misquotes.

Following another victory for Portugal in the competition, in which Ronaldo put on a storming display, journalists became excited when they thought they’d latched on to an exclusive. “I love to play in white,” he said with a cheeky grin. “The white of the national team,” he clarified, knowing full well the flirtation with Real Madrid such comments encouraged.

Biting the hand that feeds you

He was loving it. The attention was out of this World and it meant he was unable to show his current club and fans any respect. The people who’d been arguing on his behalf, defending him, singing his name, didn’t seem to matter anymore. He was too busy having a great laugh cock-teasing Real Madrid and basking in the limelight to care less about us.

Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t cut his holiday short to resolve the situation after Euro 2008 though, leaving many Reds to panic. We were split. He was probably going to go anyway, so let’s just cut our losses and call him a twat and get on with it.

Then there was the other side, the people who weren’t too impressed with Ronaldo, but desperately wanted to prevent Real Madrid from getting their own way. There were also the fans who were more than willing to forgive and forget, the summer didn’t matter, as long as he stayed.

A fortnight before the season restarted, with Ronaldo sunning himself in LA with tarts dripping off him, he decided after all the fuss, he was staying put.

“I can confirm that I’ll be playing for Manchester United next season,” he said. “And before there are any rumours and speculation about me staying against my will, I want to make one thing clear: whoever says or writes anything to that effect is lying. I’ll be playing at Manchester United with my heart and soul. I will fight and honour the shirt with the same desire and dedication as I always have.”

Aww, touching. That was enough for plenty of people. Not entirely happy with him but he was certainly forgiven. He scored 42 goals in 47 games last season, after all. Whilst not won over by any stretch of the imagination, I tried to make sense of the situation. He was a United player for the next season at least so it was no good resenting him.

Living with a question mark

Whilst there are players like Steven Gerrard and Stuart Downing, who claimed to be dyed-in-the-wool supporters before handing in transfer requests to their ‘beloved club’, Ronaldo had always made it clear that one day he would like to return to Spain.

That was entirely understandable. It was closer to home and his family, the lifestyle and weather was something he was more accustomed to, and chances are, La Liga fans would actually appreciate having the best player in the planet in their league, rather than ripping him to shreds every week. I had hoped it would come a little later in his career but I understood his thinking. He’d won everything with United now, the Premiership, the European Cup, the FA Cup, the League Cup, so it was time for a new challenge.

But his summer tantrums were always there nagging at me. Had he kept his gob shut during the Euros and returned to Old Trafford, making his intentions known to Sir Alex Ferguson, then there wouldn’t be much I could say about it. But he didn’t do that. He laughed and joked about the idea of playing for Real, every couple of days telling us we’d know about his future soon. This country was hanging off his every word and there seemed to be no mention of United, our manager, the fans.

Regardless, the season started and luckily for Ronaldo, it started badly for United. With our winger still recovering from his operation, things just weren’t clicking for United on the pitch (they still aren’t, really!). The relief upon his return meant he wasn’t dished the sort of reaction he might have been had he been available to play from the opening day of the season. Finally, our season might kick-start, following the anti-climax of the first month.

It was only after seeing him play that I realised that I hadn’t forgiven him at all. When the fans applauded him on to the pitch I made a point of keeping my hands deeply rooted in my pockets. I didn’t, still haven’t, sung any songs for him, which is fairly childish, but I couldn’t, and can’t, bring myself to do it.

It makes me angry watching him play. He’ll fall over too easily and I’m yelling at him to get up. He smacks another freekick in to the wall and I’m groaning loudly. He berates a team-mate for not passing him the ball and I’m telling him to do one.

It is only over the past few weeks that the majority of other Old Trafford goers have thawed, with his song being sung more regularly now. It’s nothing like how he was treated last season, but it is definitely a marked improvement. Yet his behaviour is worse than ever. Are we on to four or five petulant kicks at the opposition off the ball now this season? How many times a match does he lazily stroll around offside after losing the ball, instead of tracking back like every other player on the team?

Cheering without a cause

I’ve defended Ronaldo this season, I still don’t think he’s treated fairly, but my concern more arises from the feeling of injustice against my club rather than against him. I also can’t deny what a quality player he is, it’s impossible. Having missed a month of the season because of his operation, then spending a further month getting match fit after sitting out weeks of football, he’s still the second highest scorer in the league. It’s ridiculous. However, it doesn’t warm me to him.

Opposition fans have a go, claim he’s off in the summer and reckon it’ll be the end of our success. Of course I’m not concerned, given the same things were said after Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy all left, but I also don’t like this power our rival fans seem to have over us.

It’s funny when a club’s best player wants out and shows a lack of fight on the pitch, meaning we are now the centre of plenty of jokes. “That boy Ronaldo loves Real Madrid,” they sing, as if we don’t know. As if we haven’t always known. As if we thought he was going to be a United lad forever and ever. He’s not Gerrard or Downing or any other player who’s fed their club lies about their commitment. He’s been honest from the start and we knew that if he could fulfill his potential at our club, that one day he would be heading for Spain.

The truth is I know full well that if he played for Liverpool or Chelsea I’d despise him. I knew that last season too but it was funny then. I enjoyed us having a player I knew everyone else hated yet couldn’t help but want him in their team. This season it’s not enjoyable at all, it’s embarrassing and frustrating.

Until Liverpool thrashed Real Madrid in the Champions League, who are six point adrift of Barcelona, Ronaldo insisted that “only God knows the future.” He has changed his tune somewhat since then, claiming he wants to stay. But can we take anything he says seriously, and more worryingly, do we want to?

Watching my team get beaten on Saturday, seeing Michael Carrick continuously give the ball away, John O’Shea repeatedly get done, Nemanja Vidic have a brain transplant with his defending, I kept seeing Ronaldo fall over too easily. I kept seeing him wandering around offside slowing up our attack, whilst he faked a limp to where he should be standing. I kept seeing him running in to a wall of three or four players, losing possession, looking surprised, then letting his team mates chase after the ball. It wound me up no end.

There were worse players on the park against Liverpool at the weekend. Ronaldo made a couple of good runs, had a good shot or two, won us a few free kicks, therefore making him far more effective than most of our players out there. He was not at fault for our defeat yet it was his performance that left me more disappointed than the rest of the lot.

Whilst our other players ran around like headless chickens, at least trying to get something out of the match, even though failing miserable, Ronaldo strolled about like he couldn’t care less. I’m not analysing body language or facial expressions when he scores, just his work rate. He tried harder last season, even if not tracking bad like Tevez or Rooney. Whether it’s feelings towards the club or the arrogance that has come with being crowned the best in Europe and the World, he is a different player and not one I enjoy seeing in a United shirt anymore.

The end of the love affair

Our relationship with Ronaldo is like a bitter one between lovers that should have ended a year earlier. Most long-term relationships end far later than they should have done. They stick it out, trying to make it work, desperate to cling on to memories from the past, in denial over what the future holds. Ronaldo probably should have gone in the summer and he plays like he is all too aware of this.

I will forever be grateful for his blinding performances in 07-08; I whole-heartedly back him as the worthy winner of his individual accolades from last season; I’m sure we will always have a soft spot for the only player we’ve ever had to be recognised as officially the best in the World … but it’s time to say goodbye. I’m over it and seemingly so is he.

Scott writes at The Republik Of Mancunia, a Manchester United blog.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Every team has at least one player who dives, or at least goes to ground too easily. They’re the player who has you cringing when the slow motion replay comes up on the screen and you see that whilst your man is on the ground, writhing in pain, that actually no contact was made.

Until we have video refereeing, diving is going to continue to be rife in our game, because the stakes are so high. A dive in the box means you might win your team a penalty, a goal that could claim three points, whilst if you get rumbled, the chance of getting in the book is fairly slim anyway. Even if you do receive a yellow card, it’s worth the risk of winning the points for your club.

Cristiano Ronaldo is held up as the biggest offender in this country, which is a point of view I’d have to disagree with. Every time Ronaldo wins a freekick the opposition is livid, their fans jeering, their players surrounding the referee and throwing their arms in the air in disgust. Let’s be honest, it stands to reason that arguably one of the fastest players in the league, with the quickest feet, is going to need to be fouled if he is to be stopped from time to time. For our opposition to claim innocence every time, to fake their outrage at every freekick, is ridiculous, and also goes entirely unpunished by the referee. Since Ronaldo got booked for ‘dissent’ after wagging his finger at the referee at Chelsea, I can’t recall seeing a player at Old Trafford shown a yellow card for dissent, despite their constant berating of the referee for awarding a freekick for a foul on Ronaldo.

In United’s League Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur, I can only imagine the jeering Londoners, shouting at their TV screens what a cheat Ronaldo was, as referee Chris Foy showed him a yellow card for diving. It will have only been when the slow motion replays were shown that they quietened down and realised how lucky they were for not conceding a penalty with ten minutes to go.

I’m more than aware that Ronaldo has won freekicks when he wasn’t entitled to and there has been the odd penalty, but on a weekly basis he is also not awarded freekicks when he is kicked off the ball. Without even having to dig too deeply in to the archives, there are a couple of incidents from the last couple of months where penalties should have been given, but they weren’t.

February 11th 2009

Sky Sports: Ronaldo looks to be brought down inside the box but no penalty is given. Looking at the replay, he was clearly tripped by Neill, a poor decision by Mr Dowd.

December 29th 2008

MEN: On a night when there was so much talk of burying the hatchet, all that mattered to United was the shot that Dimitar Berbatov buried into the back of the net. And that’s saying something considering Emanuel Pogatetz seemed more interested in burying his fist in Cristiano Ronaldo’s throat.

The Portuguese international was infuriated by a roughhouse challenge from Pogatetz following a corner late on in the first half. The Middlesbrough man has previous — having inflicted a deep gash on the shin of Rodrigo Possebon in United’s Carling Cup victory at Old Trafford in September. Ronaldo though was more concerned about being decapitated than a mere cut to his leg.
Video

The point I’m making isn’t ‘poor Ronaldo’, or to focus on how United are mistreated, rather trying to balance the argument a bit. Ronaldo gets fouled and strangled in the area, yet nothing is done about it. The referee waves play on and the opposition players tell him to get up. Does that make him any less of a cheat for diving when contact isn’t made? Course not, but it makes it more understandable. Yet the moment Ronaldo goes out to even the score, try and win a penalty or freekick to make up for the one he just wasn’t given, he’s torn to shreds.

The most shocking thing about the events of Sunday wasn’t United not being awarded a penalty though, or even worse, Ronaldo being booked for being fouled in the area, rather the reaction by Ledley King. He knew he had fouled Ronaldo, intentionally or otherwise, yet when Foy held up the yellow card, King applauded the decision. He has some bloody nerve and if had been Ronaldo behaving in the same way he would have been strung up for it. For such a well-respected player to behave in such a way is dreadfully disappointing and for all the swearing Spurs fans will have sent in Ronaldo’s direction yesterday, it was the behaviour of their captain that was despicable. King didn’t have his photograph in the any of the papers with “CHEAT” branded on it as Ronaldo has in the past though, unsurprisingly.

No-one will feel too bad for Ronaldo and will instead remember all the times he’s won decisions he shouldn’t have. After all, Ronaldo is a victim of his own behaviour, as much as the boots and hands of our opposition, and for as long as he is in the media spotlight and for as long as he falls over too easily, he will continue to be criticised, and people will continue to forget all the times he has been robbed of decisions.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

“Your support is f******g s**t!” the away end sing at Old Trafford every week. It doesn’t matter how many songs we’ve sung or how many songs they’ve sung, within the first ten minutes or so, it’ll do the rounds.

You see, Old Trafford is a ground full of “prawn-sandwich eaters” and you can “hear a pin drop”. That’s what I get told anyway. Our support was “f*****g s**t” when Everton, Spurs, Chelsea and Newcastle came this season, and we don’t show up for European games.

Now, I don’t get to as many away games as I’d like to these days, but from Goodison Park to Wastelands, Ewood Park to Anfield, I have been part of a crowd that outsung the home team with ease. I was puzzled last Saturday when the Blackburn fans started criticising the atmosphere, thinking back to every visit I’ve made to their place. “Come on Rovers! Come on Rovers!” is about as creative as they get over there and even that will only be heard a couple of times. Now their support is f*****g s**t, averaging just 20,668 match-goers this season, meaning there’s been an average of 10,699 empty seats every home game. They’re only a few minutes down the motorway and couldn’t come close to selling all their tickets on Saturday. £27-£31 for adults, £13.50-£15.50 for kids. I know people are suffering with the credit crunch but we’re talking about the price of a night in the boozer. Don’t shun coming to support your side at Old Trafford and leave your fellow fans to make mugs of themselves singing about our support being rubbish!

Regardless, this isn’t a dig at Blackburn and it isn’t me getting giddy over United’s support, rather a look at the atmosphere and support of club’s in this country, which is becoming a growing concern for all teams.

United fans planned to replicate the great ‘flag days’ of days gone by, a move which started at our recent trip to Derby, and was hoped to continue at Fulham. However, Fulham’s safety officer, Bob Morrison, got in touch to confirm that no flags on sticks will be allowed in to the ground due to them being considered a ‘safety concern’.

Last week, Middlesbrough supports received a letter in the post about their standing to get a better view of the opposite goal mouth. They’ve been asked to sit down promptly, with it being not just a request from the club, but others fans in the ground making complaints about standing.

Birmingham fans aren’t happy, neither are Liverpool fans, who booed their players off the pitch despite their team going top of the league, Arsenal are struggling, like West Brom, and the list goes on. The atmosphere at grounds up and down the country isn’t what it used to be and despite some fans’ best efforts, there’s been little success in improving it.

Rising ticket prices, the increase of ‘trendy’ fans, corporate seats, Sky Sports and less entertaining football are all to blame and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Essentially though, the support in the ground is merely reflecting too many of the players we see wearing our shirts on the pitch. Fickle, demanding and uninterested.

Depressing.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

“Football’s not like it was in the good ol’ days,” people grumble. “Back when men were men, when you were allowed to stand and smoke in the ground, sing your heart out for ninety minutes and pay two bob for your ticket.”

Yes, football has changed a great deal over the years, with the big change taking place with the introduction of the Premiership and Sky Sports.

Money plays a bigger role than ever, thanks to foreign owners, with clubs on the brink of bankruptcy going on to win League titles and reach European Cup finals, whilst other clubs who have gone over three decades without a trophy can afford to spend more money on a player than any English club ever has done before.

But how has football changed within these Premiership years?

Much has been made of United’s recent defensive record, with us last conceding in the league on November 8th. Defensive records are not something we’re famed for, with us spending most of our successful years based on the philosophy of outscoring our opponents. They might score a goal or two, but we’ll score a goal or two more. Before claiming the record for longest stretch without conceding in the Premiership, then English football, then British football, United held the record for the most goals scored in a Premiership season. However, we’ve seen a greater focus on defensive football more recently.

Our away performances against Roma and Barcelona last season, making it our priority to keep the opposition out of our penalty area, showed a different side to the United we’d seen lift the European Cup just nine years earlier. We didn’t concede and scored just two goals between the two matches. During  the group stages in 1999 we conceded three goals at the Nou Camp against Barcelona, but scored three ourselves to leave with a point. Away to Bayern Munich, we conceded two goals, but again, left with a point, and away to Brondby we conceded two, but put away six in their net. Away to Juventus in the semi-final we conceded twice, yet still managed to score three to book our place in the final.

Football has changed even since 1999, with that gung-ho approach unlikely to get you anywhere in the Champions League these days. The new style has been adopted in our own league, with plenty of teams more concerned with shutting the opposition out than they are with attacking.

When Chelsea won the Premiership in 2005, their first title in fifty years, they did so thanks to the solid defensive foundation that Jose Mourinho put in place. They were an efficient machine, controlling the match from the back, letting the opposition come at them but rarely allowing them to penetrate the back line. Then they would nick a goal or two to sure up the three points.

If we compare Chelsea and United’s best Premiership seasons, we can see the end product in terms of points, goal difference and games won is fairly similar. However, how they reached their conclusions was vastly different. Just five years separates these seasons but the style used to win the title varies greatly.

In 2000, we lost three games, had a goal difference of 54, won 74% of our games and set a Premiership points record of 91. In 2005, they lost just one game, had a goal difference of 57, won 76% of their games and set a Premiership points record of 95.

We scored a massive 97 goals that season, an average of 2.6 goals per game. They scored 25 fewer goals, an average of 1.9 per game.

We conceded a massive 45 goals, an average of 1.2 goals per game. They conceded just 15 goals, an average of 0.4 goals per game.

Whilst United still pride themselves on attacking football, dominating the possession and shots on goal in every game they play, the football of 99-00 is a distant memory. The better English teams became in Europe, the more necessary it was for the successful style of Champions League football to be a part of our own league.

Arsenal became the first Premiership winning side to concede fewer than 30 goals in a season in 2004. Before that season, Premiership Champions conceded 37 goals a season on average. The 26 goal record of Arsenal was smashed the following season though, with Chelsea’s 15 goals. Since then, the most goals a side has conceded but still gone on to win the league is 27 goals, by United in 2007 (it’s interesting to note our goal difference was just one goal worse off than Chelsea’s in 2005 though, when they let in just 15 goals).

Mourinho watched United’s 1-0 win over West Ham, where a British football record was broken, with us going thirteen league games without conceding, and I wonder if TNSSO was aware of the trend he helped introduce to our game. In 2000, the average goals conceded by a Premiership team was 53. In 2005, it was 48.75, a difference of 4.25 goals a season. That might not sound a great difference, but that works out at a total difference of 85 goals! In five years, the defences of football teams in this country have bettered themselves by 85 goals!

If United carry on conceding at the rate they have done so far this season, there will be between fifteen and sixteen goals scored against us this season, a third as many as were scored against us when we won the title in 2000.

As much as this may be attributed to European styled football, the approach needed to be successful against sides in Italy, Germany and Spain, I’d say the money of the game plays a big role.

They say the price of being relegated is £30 million. For a lot of clubs, they simply cannot afford to be £30 million down and stay in business, or at the very least, plan a return to the Premiership any time soon. So rather than going on the attack, seeking out a win, whilst risking being caught on the break, a lot of teams would prefer to fight for the point.

Take for example Reading last season, who were relegated on goal difference. They won as many games as the side that finished 13th and just one game less than the team that finished 11th, showing their desire to go out and try and win. However, in doing that, they were obviously caught out too many times, losing on twenty two occasions. That’s what got them relegated and that’s what cost them £30 million this season. Is it any wonder then that teams focus on securing one point rather than risking them all in a bid to win the game? Fulham won just eight matches last season, the same as relegated Birmingham, but picked up a crucial twelve points with draws, and stayed in the Premiership.

Inter Milan scored just 69 goals last season and were crowned Champions, German Champions, Bayern Munich, scored just 68, and the season before last Real Madrid won La Liga with just 66 goals to their name! It surely won’t be that long now before our league reflects the same defensive-minded style, if even Manchester United are claiming records for their defending!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News