League Title #20, visit to the Emirates

                Since the last post which was a fortnight ago, there are a lot of topics that we could cover on, not the least title no 20 wrapped up and safe in the kitty. Man oh man, what a season this has been for United coming back with vengeance in taking back what was rightfully ours – the league title that was so painfully yanked out under our noses in the injury time by Aguero. It feels sweet now to have exacted revenge with four games to spare. Come on you devils.

                The plans have already been made for an open bus parade and it starts from Old Trafford and ends at the city centre on Monday, the 12^th of May and the fans get to rejoice and celebrate with the team and the technical staff – a day after City plays Wigan in the FA cup final... cheeky. Rewinding to the start of the season, when United started off disastrously by losing to Everton, nobody would have forecast us to win the title with 4 games to spare. The game was followed by a lot of victories most of which were snatched from the jaws of defeat. I guess we sort of created a record for most number of comebacks in a season. But it was the holiday fixtures that set the tone for a dominating display from United crushing the opposition one after the other while the competitors were slipping away. On paper, this team may not be the best in Britain, but with Fergie spearheading the flock, you never write off Manchester United (remember Alan Hansen).

Celebration at OT after 3-0 win against Aston Villa

Alright, now after the Stoke game, we travelled to East London and returned with a point which was great given the rough treatment our boys received. When the shitty blues failed to overhaul the spurs, United needed a victory at home against the Villans to win the big prize. 2 minutes in to the game, RVP set the tone and polished them off in the first half, only waiting for the formalities to be completed in the second half. It is always special to win before your home crowd and I wish I could have been at the theatre of dreams on Monday. I have since watched the pitch and the dressing room celebrations innumerable times. Every time I end up smiling and it will be sometime before I move on from these videos. J I know I have not mentioned anything about the wonder strike from the Dutchman that has been dubbed as the goal of the century by Sir Alex but do not want to make this post a lengthy one which may be the case. Thank goodness he chose red over blue.

With this league triumph, Sir Alex Ferguson and Ryan Giggs have won a phenomenal 13 winner’s medals. Only Manchester United and Liverpool have more league wins than these gentlemen. What a way to compare their achievements. To top this, Giggs and Arsenal, both have won the title 13 times LOL. On the medals to be given out, looks like there is no more minimum number of matches to be played to collect a winner’s medal. So Anders Lindegaard and Alex Buttner would collect one as well, their first! They aren’t the only ones who have won the league for the first time. It is a huge list – Phil Jones, De Gea, Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa have all won for the first time. It was intentional that I missed to add another illustrious name to the above list, the man who made it possible to win the title no 20 – Robin van Persie. What an impact he has created since donning the jersey of Manchester United. It would not be far from truth if I say it is second to King Eric in terms of driving the team to win the league. Now would he reach the great heights of Cantona remains to be seen but his technique and class is never in doubt. He could one day, you never know. Fingers crossed.

Champ20ns of England - for the 20th time

The gaffer has set the target of collecting the maximum points in the last 4 games to set a league record of points accumulated (96) with the current record being 95 set by Chelsea under Mourinho. To put this to test, United first play their erstwhile rivals tomorrow. Yes I did say erstwhile as the meetings have lost its steam after the north London club became more of a feeder club for bigger vultures by selling their top talents. Of course RVP falls under that bracket but then the players who left before him – Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, Song (with him) and Henry even if he was on the wrong side of 30s has come to bite them in the rear. All said, this fixture is still a top billing for all football fans. The gunners still play a beautiful game they are known for but as long as they don’t win against us, I am happy to concede this particular title to them.

With United visiting them right after winning the league means they are obliged to extend a guard of honour when the devils walk on to the pitch. To know Arsene mention that not performing the formality was never in question is an appreciable gesture. The gunners will do so with no qualms but with a tinge of disappointment which may drive them to extract the maximum points once the referee waves play, the same cannot be said about the fans. They still see RVP as a betrayer who failed them by stalling to extend his contract and to add insult to injury joined their old rivals. They may take a while to forgive him or probably never given the sentiments I have been seeing from the die-hard Gooners. He is in for a hot reception and as a professional he will not mind them. But it will still be bitter for him to be booed by a 50000+ Gooners who cheered him not long time ago. He may still be having some pleasant memories of his stay there. The fans have their right to boo him or give him the stick; after all he was their darling and captain last season. They had patiently waited for him to overcome a series of injuries to perform consistently and they felt being backstabbed with his announcement to join the Manchester club. From RVP’s perspective, was he right in swapping London for Manchester? Yes, I think so, if not he would still be waiting for his first league winner’s medal.

But hey, f**k them as I don’t give a damn about how a Gooner feels for I started following PL during the Invincibles’ reign. With absolute no knowledge of football, I used to watch those games and support United because that was the first team I got to know and when they were rolled over by Henry and co, I developed a hatred for them. Though the sentiment has mellowed, deep down I still carry a grudge against them. Add City, Chelsea and the Kops to that list and that would hold good for any fan from other teams to have the same sentiment against others. If you ask me how I would feel if a United player swaps his jersey for one of our rivals, I will be pissed of course but till then I will always say “Once a red, always a red”. OK, Denis Law probably is an exception.

Moving on to the game in hand, it may be expected that the manager will rotate his squad and give a chance to fringe players, I still expect to see a strong line up as 3 points against Arsenal is a must. Since they are involved in a CL spot scramble, we can expect a tough game. Evans and Carrick may sit out of this game with the injuries along with Young and Scholes. Nani, could make a return I guess or not sure if he has already played his last game for United (?). For Arsenal, even with Giroud serving the ban and Wilshere having not completely recovered from his injury, they do possess intelligent players in their roster who can cause damage. Santi Cazorla especially will try to dictate the game and we will need a strong midfield to overcome him + their passing game. I see United scoring, hitting them on the break which we do best but will have to be vigilant for the 90 minutes to keep them at bay.

My prediction for the game is a United win with the scoreline 1-2. And Robin van Persie to get his name on the score sheet.

In other news,

Arsene Wenger is supposed to have snubbed RVP by saying Carrick deserves the PFA award more than the dutchman. I don’t see that as a snub as I feel strongly that it should be Carrick to win and not RVP. It is by no way belittling RVP’s contribution this season but it has always been the case where only strikers are felicitated and the linchpins of the teams are ignored. Carrick’s contribution to Manchester United has been as good as RVP if not more and it is time FA stops being stereotypic.

A deserving PFA 2013 nominee - Michael Carrick