Time For Penalties, Own Goals and Deflections

Another match gone, more points dropped, and the talk of “crisis” is upon us. Despite dominating Sunday’s derby, yet again we failed to put the ball in the back of the net. We hit the woodwork, again, we watched the ball roll painfully close on the wrong side of the post, again, and Micah Richards had probably the best game of his career so far. And give a shit, right, because we’ve picked up two points from a possible nine after bigging up our chances all summer?

It’s painful, and it’s upsetting, and it’s frustrating, and I write this feeling as though there is very little I can say or do which is going to cheer me up at the moment. So bear with me.

Since Arsenal’s unbeaten season, there has been a lot of attention given to having a good start. United have historically won their titles in the second half the season, when they put their foot down and really start to steam roll. We’re told you can no longer afford to do that. Now that we have given Chelsea the advantage, it appears as though our fate this season is in their hands as much as it is in our own. Forget how many points we drop, we need Chelsea to drop more. Last season they did, the season before last they didn’t.

Last season, between August and December, Chelsea dropped 16 points, and between the January and when the title was won, they dropped 11 points. In contrast, United dropped 10 points in the first half the season, and 10 in the second half up until the day the title was won. Our strong start to the season put us in a better position at the turn of the year, but we also managed to have a stronger end to the season as well. We were stronger than Chelsea in both halves of the season. That is why we were crowned champions.

It was a different story with Chelsea the season before however. They were crowned champions because in the first half of the season they dropped just 5 points. However, in the second half of the season, up until the day the title was won, United and Chelsea picked up exactly the same amount of points. Despite having a team ripped apart by injuries, lead by O'Shea and Giggs in the centre of our midfield, and despite already being so far behind, we showed we had the mental strength to fight back. We showed we could go head to head with a fully fit Chelsea side, even when our chances of winning in the end were slim. We all know this is not the first time we have done this, and it will not be the last. That season, our fighting spirit wasn't enough to enable us to claim the title, we were simply too far behind. With thirty five games left to go, we have it all to play for. It is ludicrous to think we are too far behind already.

Over the course of the 05/06 season, we dropped too many points, and the points we lost that season mirrors exactly that of Chelsea’s 06/07 season, with both teams finishing the year on 83 points, both teams coming second. Slow starts cost both teams in those years, however I'm curious to see how our lads would have done without a primadonna wantaway striker, and with a fully fit first XI in the second half of the season. (It is important to note at this point that Cech returned to the Chelsea team in January of last season, and that Terry missed just 6 league games between January and the end of the season). I would love to know how close we could have got to our title that year. Can you have a slow start but fight hard enough later on the claw it back?

With three games gone, doubts are starting to arise amongst United fans. This isn’t the start we’d envisaged, and it’s making us panic. Fans on the forums are trying to work out what the problem is, and I’m sure if you popped over to 606 you’d find “United fans” calling for Ferguson’s head. I think Ferguson does have a problem though, and don’t really know how he can solve it. Everywhere on the field, we are working as we should. We’re playing great football, football of a much higher standard than the football we saw give us three points against the likes of Watford and Spurs at the start of last season. So what can Ferguson say to the team? “Right lads, keep doing everything you’re doing, but next match, just, well, score a goal.”

Our out and out strikers, Saha and Solskjaer, who you can often rely on just sticking the ball in to the back of the net, are both out injured, and are set to make returns over the next couple of weeks. Rooney, who we not only rely on for scoring goals, but for creating them as well, is out injured, and we won’t be seeing him back until October (and therefore almost definitely going to miss the Chelsea game). Ronaldo has a further two games out for his “headbutt” at Pompey (although, I’m all ears to anyone who wants to explain the difference between that incident and Terry’s “headbutt” on Torres at the weekend), and again, is a player we rely on to score and provide our goals. It is not really any surprise then that we’re not bagging goals aplenty at the moment, is it? Should we have other players on our team who are capable of stepping up to the plate? Of course. Am I too worried that we’re not getting the best from them yet? No.

If we’d had an own goal in our favour on the opening day of the season to gift us three points like Liverpool, then we’d be happy. If we’d had a penalty awarded for nothing on our second away game of the season like Chelsea, then we’d be happy. If we’d had one of our long range shots deflected in to the goal for three points like City, then we’d be happy. If Giggs’ shot against Reading hadn’t hit the woodwork, and equally, Vidic’s header against City, then we would be happy. But it’s not happening for us at the moment. It feels as though things can’t get much worse, but they most definitely could. You only have to think back to a few years back to remember that. At least we are playing good football, at least the only missing piece is finding the back of the net. That is a problem which is far more easily solved than being a few world class players short of a great first XI, or having a team of unmotivated players. We've got the ability, we've got the desire, now we just need that extra bit of luck on our side to get us going. We need to see the ball ripple the net by whichever means necessary. We need to get it started.

When our players start returning and when the goals start coming, we’ll certainly have catch up to play, as we’ve already dropped seven points, in contrast to just the two that Chelsea have dropped. But let’s remember we lost and drew five games last season, and still won the league by six points. The season before, Chelsea lost five and drew four, but still won the league by eight points. We still have a lot of room to work in. Less room than we would have had if we’d had a good start, but the walls aren't closing in on us just yet. At the very least, let's see how Chelsea get on without the likes of Drogba, Essien, Kalou, and Mikel in January during the ACN, a period where we really start to pick ourselves up. People are quick to underestimate how quickly things can change.

Alan Hansen has said our game against Spurs is a must win, and the last team you want to be playing in this situation is a team who desperately need a win themselves. These are difficult times, and I’m not going to bury my head in the sand about our current situation. This season could blow up in our faces, and it could be one of the most disappointing we have had for a long time. But equally, these could be the stories we talk about at the end of a hugely successful season. “Christ, remember the dreadful start we had? Thank fuck things turned around for us so quickly.”

I look at our first XI, and I don’t think any team beats it. Hargreaves looked sensational against City, one of the best debuts I’ve seen for a while. He just looked like the missing piece. Whilst I’m pleased with the signings of Tevez, Nani (and Anderson, I guess, although I base that on his talked up potential, rather than what I’ve seen of him), Hargreaves just looks like what we’ve needed for a while, and he was one of the few positives that came from Sunday.

So the lads are testing us right now, without a doubt, but whoever wins the league this season will certainly lose more than one game and will draw more than two games. No title will ever be won or lost after three games. We never do things the easy way, and I hope this season will result in further proof of that.

Manchester United F.C. - My Passion

Manchester United Football Club is a world famous English football club. They are based at Old Trafford Football Ground, Trafford, Greater Manchester and the club is one of the most successful football clubs in English football history, having won the FA Premier League/Football League 15 times, FA Cup 11 times, the League Cup twice, the European Cup twice, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup once, the Intercontinental Cup once, and the European Super Cup once. The club has had the highest average attendance in English football for the past 34 seasons, with the exception of 1987-89 during redevelopment at Old Trafford^[1]. The 'Red Devils' are reported to be the best-supported football club in the world.

The club was formed as Newton Heath F.C. in 1878 as the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath. After nearing bankruptcy in 1902, the club was taken over by J H Davies who changed its name to Manchester United. The Old Trafford Football Ground was bombed during the Second World War, leading the club to seek charity from their then-illustrious neighbours Manchester City, who allowed them to play their games at Maine Road for a period. United appointed Sir Matt Busby as manager after the Second World War, and his then-unheard-of policy of producing most of the players through the club's youth team brought great success, with the club winning the Football League in 1956 and 1957. This success was halted by the Munich air disaster of 1958, in which eight of the club's players died. It was thought that the club might fold, but instead went on to win the football league in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968.

The club did not see success again until the 1990s and early 2000s when Sir Alex Ferguson guided it to eight league championships in eleven years, most recently in the 2002-03 season. In 1999, Manchester United became the only team to win the treble, that is the UEFA Champions League, FA Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season.

The Treble (1998-99)

1998-99 was when Manchester United had the most successful season in English club football history as they became the first and only English team to win The Treble - winning the Premiership, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season. After a very tense Premier League season, Manchester United won the title on the final day beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, whilst Arsenal won 1-0 against Aston Villa. Winning the Premiership was the first part of the Treble in place, the one part that manager Alex Ferguson described as the hardest. In the FA Cup Final United faced Newcastle United and won 2-0 with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. In the final match of that season, the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final they defeated Bayern Munich in what was then considered the greatest comeback ever witnessed. After going down to an early goal from a Mario Basler free kick, United chased the game for 85 minutes. After 90 minutes they forced a corner, from which late substitute Teddy Sheringham scored. Not giving up, Man Utd went for a second and it came again from a corner, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, another late substitute, poking it into the roof of the net. Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to football.

Honours

• Premier League (including (Old) First Division) titles: 15
  • 1907-08, 1910-11, 1951-52, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03
• (Old) Second Division 2
  • 1936, 1975
• FA Cup 11
  • 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
• League Cup 2
  • 1992, 2006
• European Cup / UEFA Champions League 2
  • 1968, 1999

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1
  • 1991
• Intercontinental Cup/World Club Championship 1¹
  • 1999
• European Super Cup 1
  • 1991
• FA Charity/Community Shield 15
  • 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965*, 1967*, 1977*, 1983, 1990*, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003 (* joint holders)

The Diplomatic Me.....

From the quiet town of Jamshedpur in India, to here…. 2887 kms away in Singapore, my choices in education reflect an aspect of my personality that has repeatedly dictated my actions. To me, life has been about looking beyond my immediate surroundings and excelling in the path less traveled.

My school experiences have been in concurrence with this axiom. During my 13 years at Loyola School, Jamshedpur, I have had several divergent yet simultaneously enriching pursuits that have holistically provided me with learning that a narrower approach could never rival. Academically, I was the recipient of the Outstanding and Academic Excellence awards for seven years in a row and was thus awarded the prestigious Mr. Junior Loyola Award for being the most outstanding student in the middle school. Thereafter, I continued to remain in the top notch of my class for the remainder of my schooling. I topped the entire science batch in my school during the national level 10^th standard (ICSE) and 12^th standard (ISC) examinations with percentages of 94 and 93 respectively, securing a city rank of 3 in the later. I got awards for the highest in English in ICSE and Chemistry in the ISC exams.

However, academics have always been only one facet of my school life. Public speaking through elocutions, debates and extempore competitions have been another one of my passions. A recipient of the third prize at “Odyssey”, an international elocution competition held at Lucknow, India; I have also twice succeeded in wining the silver medal at the Inter-Jesuit Elocution Contest, a national level competition. At school, I won the Annual English Elocution/Extempore competition five times, which is supposedly a good achievement. I have also received an honorable mention from the British Council during their debate competition on “water harvesting”.

The Computer Club of my school has been one of the dearest organizations to me during my stay at Loyola. My membership which spanned six years culminated in me becoming President of the club during the year 2004-05. It was during this year that my team expanded our school’s IT festival, ABACUS to a district wide level competition. I also secured an All India Rank of 33 in the National Cyber Olympiad,2004.

Quizzing has also been an interest of mine. My team won the first prize at the TATA STEEL Metallurgy quiz. My interest in quizzing is also reflected through my participation in the international science and astronomy quizzes held at CMS, Lucknow in their science festival - QUANTA.

At school, I was elected to the Loyola Honour Society for my sincere efforts in the running of the debating, astronomy and computer clubs. I was the Vice-President of the Astronomy Club and the Honorary General Secretary of the Debating Club.

Now I have completed one complete year at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore as an Electrical and Electronic Engineering student. I am also involved in a lot of extra curricular activities at NTU out of which AIESEC is the club I am mostly involved with. I am also deeply involved in the working of the Computer Society, Astronomical Society, IEEE and the EEE Club. Before coming to NTU I had a lot of doubts as to whether I was making the right choice or not. After a lot of thought I chose to apply to NTU to benefit from the unique opportunities offered by this international institution and trust me I have gained immensely from the experiences from the single year of stay here. For an all round experience(which I believe is absolutely necessary in today's age) NTU is the place to be.