Title hangover continues, also covering week 36 updates

          If you were expecting a game review here, I am sorry to disappoint you guys because it will be a 3rd review of games against Chelsea in my 9th post. Having said that, I should not have waited till the game to write this as I am still hurting from the way we lost the game to the blues. I don’t give a shite if we have won the league and the team just needs to go through the motions. When we play the big 4 it is always an important game and let me tell you how I get these losses out of my system. Play the victors in FIFA PC game and hammer them in the professional level for a minimum of 3 games. Of course it doesn’t make any difference to the outside world, but that is how I make peace with the result.

          Alright, let us look at the news for the week since the last post. To start with the game at Emirates – everybody showed a generous dose of hangover from a weeklong partying. I can live with it for the guys had delivered the Holy Grail for the season. However it was a marked improvement in the second half when the lads put the gunners to their places though the finishing in the last third was left wanting. As mentioned earlier, I would have loved to see us win against Arsenal but had to contend with a point. A special mention here about RVP who kept his cool in the charged up atmosphere to slot in the penalty past the gunner’s custodian.

          On the personnel front, did anybody miss Cleverley? I sure did, that lad sure has talent and with a bit of application can nail down a permanent CM position. But what goes through Sir Alex’s mind is impossible to decipher. The Basingstoke born lad had been a revelation in the first half of the season and was the first name in the team sheet when on international duty. So why he has been MIA is beyond me. Now that the league is all wrapped up, it would be nice to see the kid play again. He did play today’s game but I still wanted to write on his absence as this had been nagging me the whole week. Probably you can choose to assume this post was written before today’s game. :P

          Along with the quarterly revenue announcements midweek shared by Ed Woodward who is set to take over from David Gill as Fergie’s boss, he spoke about how the team doesn’t need retooling citing the depth the squad has. Guess he is trying to set the tone of his regime or the anti-united would like to believe that the picture is not going to be rosy with the manager as it had been in the last 26 years. pooh pooh. Fergie’s sentiments echoed the same even if he dropped a hint on possibility of couple of marquee signings. This has been a change from his earlier days when the transfer targets were secretly guarded. Robert Lewandowski? Radamel Falcao? CR7?

Sir Alex with the outgoing Chief Executive David Gill

         Another news that popped up last week was that of the op that the gaffer had to undergo before the next season starts. I guess the timing coincides with the community shield against City and he may miss the season opener. However, the op being scheduled after the pre-season tour and not immediately after this season gets over suggests it may not be a major surgery. I am not sure if his age of 71 should be factored into despite his boyish enthusiasm when I opine on the severity. As expected, his retirement was brought in to discussion again with Jurgen Klopp being mooted as a replacement. Though the German is a good tactician, I sincerely hope our good old Scot continues to oversee many more triumphs.

        Van Persie knows how to win the fans over. (Has he not already at Manchester?) Since the Bulgarian Berbatov’s departure last season the no 9 has not been allocated to anybody. Does his role fit the jersey #, of course yes. But he has chosen not to switch from his #20 because the fans will have to fork out extra quids. Wow! And he gets to enjoy another year with the title #20. The little boy in him should have advised him on the jersey number. Since we are on this topic, let me get something else out. Valencia deserved to wear 7 after last season’s performance. Editing this season’s highlights for United, he may resemble a shadow of himself and to think of the legends who have donned the jersey – Best, Robson, Cantona, Beckham and Ronaldo oh my god.

Making Busquets proud?

       Though I decided not to write a review of the game against Chelsea, let us glance over some salient points of note. The team line up screamed only one message – give a run in for players with less time on pitch so far. Despite this, the team boasted of RVP, Jones and Rafael who have been standout this season for the team. I started writing this post immediately after the game and I was boiling at how the game ended. I so hoped for us to do the double on the blues shite but they trumped us clearly a CL spot being a motivation. We were so lacking on that, lads didn’t know what they were playing for except probably Jones who does wear his heart on his sleeve. I agree with the gaffer that he is destined for greatness at Old Trafford. To make matters worse, Rafael went bonkers revealing his petulant side in fouling David Luiz to see a red. He may have deserved the card, but to see that twat laughing at the sidelines feigning injury, I wish Rafael caused him serious injury. Let me stop now as I may tip over thinking about the game again and again. It is time to kick Rafa’s arse in my FIFA game - AGAIN.

Until next week.....