Well guys, firstly great apologies for not posting in a while. I have been so busy that I haven’t even managed to check it myself. A lot has happened in the two weeks since I last posted and I hope the blog has not lost too much momentum. I will endeavour to post more frequently from now on.
Let’s start with last night’s performance against Benfica. Does anyone else feel that Rooney has suffered from a loss of confidence? I was watching him quite closely last night and it seemed that he was always looking to play short passes along the ground. He rarely looked to take players on and when he did try something elaborate it always went wrong. For the first time I think we are seeing a young lad that has lost the faith in his own ability. This was the very thing that made him so deadly in the first place. One of the commentators summed the situation up perfectly. “The boy is one goal from being back on track”. I agree with that statement 100%.
Rooney aside I think it was an average performance, where the team on a whole lacked a little self belief. In the first half the boys did not pass with conviction, they gave possession away all too easily and Benfica were beginning to make us pay. Ronaldo was our only inspiration and he seemed determined that last year would not happen again. For us half time could not come soon enough.
We began to find our stride again in the second half and superb linkup play between Ronaldo and Saha followed by a sublime piece of individual skill by the Frenchman led to United taking the lead. Once we got the goal you could see our boys grow phenomenally in confidence. We were playing slick one-two passes moving the ball quickly and efficiently. The self belief was back and we showed it in our football. I remember the glory days well when we were winning every trophy in sight. We played with such conviction; we knew that even if we were behind in injury time, we could still win the game. Does anybody remember the 1999 champion’s league final? Just in case you don’t here is a link to a video so that you can relive that wonderful moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEqREaX-mF8
Anyhow I digress. We need that conviction back in our game and that will come with results. Drawing against Reading and losing against Arsenal will dent that confidence, but the win last night was huge for us. It was our first victory away in the champion’s league in 3 years and we must now go on from this.
Looking at the Arsenal game I was disappointed with our performance. I don’t like to criticise Fergie but I felt that we really needed Carrick in the midfield that day. The game was lost in the midfield. Scholes spent most of the game chasing shadows and he eventually had to come off due to fatigue. That result has given Arsenal the confidence to go on, whilst it has made us stumble. We must now go on and notch up those wins.
Another blow is Ryan Giggs and Ji Sung Park’s injuries. I really hoped that we could see more of Park this season. I think that he is a great player with bags of potential. Giggs injury would have given him the opportunity to gain some really valuable first team experience, Alas it is not to be.
Smith is back which is great. I think that it is going to take another month or 2 before we see the real smudger, we must be patient and not rush him back.
So if there is anyone still reading this blog, I want to know what your thoughts are on Rooney and also what you think about the teams confidence. We need to regain momentum fast if we are to contend the title. Once again sorry for the lack of posting recently, I will try and do better from now on.
An idea, if you email me your email address at bewisebets@gmail.com I will fire out an email to you whenever I post. Saves you having to check all the time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I think Rooney just needs a goal; if only he hadn’t been suspended for the three matches after scoring against Fulham. With Newcastle, Wigan and Copenhagen coming up he should have the opportunities to play himself into form before the Liverpool game in mid-October.
MOTM last night had to be Heinze. Especially towards the end of the second half I thought he was immense. Once Giggs gets back from injury and with Ronaldo in lively form we should have real pace and penetration down both flanks.
The only downside to Ronaldo’s performance last night (I thought) was his tendency to run into trouble after taking on too many players. There were a good few occasions when he went past two players and then should have laid the ball off but kept going and conceded possession.
The main thing that’s concerning me right now is the midfield. I’m wondering if Hargreaves’s broken leg will affect Bayern’s determination to hold onto him as we could really do with him in January.
Yeah Heinze was brilliant, i think we have really missed him.
Ronaldo for his faults of running into people was genuinely our only inspiration going forward. He set up the goal and genereally tourmented Benfica. In 3 or 4 years time he will be the best player in the world no doubt!
Rooney is United's catalyst. yes he has been off-track recently theres no denying it. But we all know Rooney, there is only one. he will return better and stronger than ever!
Ronaldo played great yesterday, Saha didnt have much support but did what he could. fantastic goal, Ruud would have been proud of that.
I never thought I'd ever get to this point, but I think that Fergie is beginning to doubt himself. That may be having an effect on the team. For some reason, the self-belief has gone out the team ..
It is important to get it back and quickly .. it is a sad reflection but emphasises the point I'm making, that very few of us in my Fantasy League, very few people have more than 1 united player in their team
I agree with TKK Heinze is back and we're better for it. Thought he as are best player against Benfica, followed closely by Ronaldo who obviously got all the limelight for his performance. Hopefully the confidence will be flowing back now following the Arsenal result and we can pick up momentum again. Newcastle, Wigan and Copenhagen are good matches to build up for the Liverpool encounter and we need to be winning all of them (and quite comfortably) if we are going to be serious this year about pushing Chelsea for the Premiership.
We really miss Giggs and Fergie needs to have his replacement lined up and sorted by next summer. I know he is still young but I just don't see Richardson filling that position. I'm not forgetting Park whom I like but I see him as a squad player, not one of the first names on the team sheet. If Fergie is staying on then next summer has to see Hargreaves, a winger and another forward arrive.
Post a Comment