Still Following the Trawler

Here is awesome United blog Republik of Mancunia's awards of 2010. Enjoy! 'Who Are You Again?' Award Nominations: Wes Brown, Michael Owen, Owen Hargreaves And the winner is... .......................................................................................................................... Most Successful Ex-Red Nominations: Diego Forlan, Gerard Pique And the winner is... .......................................................................................................................... Youngster of the Year Nominations: Anderson, Rafael da Silva, Chris Smalling And the winner is... .......................................................................................................................... Scapegoat of the Year Nominations: Darren Gibson, Michael Carrick, Jonny Evans And the winner is... .......................................................................................................................... Biggest Disappointment of the Year No

Going into Tuesday's game, I decided to cast my mind back to last season's fixture. Why? Because I'm sadistic like that! For those who don't remember it, I don't blame you. Dull, uneventful and wasteful were probably the best words to describe the 1-1 draw at St Andrews . However as a representation of our season, it was probably as significant a game as any. We consistently struggled last term -  rather than going for  the more conventional, sporadic 'drop-in-form' - and in the away game against Birmingham in January, which came six days after our embarrassing FA Cup home defeat at the hands of League One Leeds United, we demonstrated exactly why we were unable to win an unprecedented fourth title on the trot. All the words I have used to describe our season in 2009/10 - dull, wasteful and struggle - applied to that game. And if it wasn't for our third top scorer, O.G, equalising with half an hour of play left, we would have recorded what would have bee

Good. Giggs. Great to see him back to what you'd assume is full-fitness. And if what we saw against Sunderland wasn't full-fitness, then we're certainly in for a treat when he does return to form. His running and vision caused the Sunderland defence  problems  from kick-off , and was rewarded with an assist-assist (made-up term  © the Cockney Red ) as early on as the fifth minute. He was untouchable as his blistering run - a term not commonly associated with a 37 year old - opened up their defence, until he eventually played in Rooney who's pinpoint cross met Berbs' head rather perfectly. An awesome move of old that thoroughly deserved the goal at the end of it. Anderson. Although Berbatov will instantly take the plaudits for his goals (seven in two starts) as well as dramatically over-shadowing England's former darling in our attack, for me and many United fans, Anderson has been our best and most consistent performer in recent games. Again on Boxing Day he

This is by far the most unique, innovative and exciting Fantasy League game out. Believe me, you HAVE to check these guys out... The game is called  Picklive   and it works like this: - You stick a quid in the pot then pick three players that are on the pitch (say Nani, Vidic and, for the Sunderland game, Gyan). - Then for 7 and a half minutes, you score points based on the actions that your chosen players complete: -  For example:  Nani makes 50 completed passes (+50 points), Vidic makes 10 clean tackles (+30 points), Nani also scores 3 (+60 points), Gyan scores and own goal (-20 points) and gets sent off for constantly complaining to the ref about Suarez's handball in the World Cup (-20 points) - The scores are tallied up at the end of the time (we’re on +100 points) and then the top three players win a share of the pot. - You then pick three more players and go again! The game is proper good fun and I’d certainly recommend you give it a try just to see what all the fuss is about

Seven things we learnt from last night’s game… Where was all that ‘beautiful, attractive football’? Can’t everyone – from neutrals to Gooners – see that it’s getting embarrassing to hinge on that pathetic statement whenever referring to Arsenal? Whichever way you wish to say it: ‘they play the best football in the league’, ‘their style is the best’ ‘I’d rather watch them play than anyone else’, all it does is politely hide the fact that they’re actually at times thoroughly unproductive, even if they can pass a bit. Its a bit like calling an Allardyce side ‘a great defensive unit’ rather than ‘dirty c*nts’. Admittedly I’ve not seen an awful lot of Arsenal this season, but I was shocked at how poor they were off the ball and how incapable they were of dealing with United when we were in possession. So much so that their constant lack of attractive football yesterday resulted in 16 foals committed and four bookings. Classy. And how about when they got the ball ( that's when they thriv

Henry Winter, the Daily Telegraph Ji-Sung Park’s clever header separated the two sides but the gulf in belief and goal threat was far greater. Heaven help the rest when United really click. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men visit Chelsea on Sunday for the next leg of this fascinating, if flawed title race. Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur also harbour Premier League ambitions but there is something about United in this mood, canny and controlled, that should worry all their rivals. The unbeaten run will end at some point but United exude the confidence and experience of being able to set off on another run. Ignore the scoreline. United were head and shoulders above Arsenal, physically so when Park rose in front of the sluggish Sebastien Squillaci to settle the game it was not unexpected. Kevin McCarra, the Guardian The familiarity of the result was even more significant than the victory that put Manchester United two points clear in the Premier League with a game in hand. Arsenal were unabl

Check out my mates awesome new football analysis site – Sportsclaque – which has a d ecent preview for tonights epic encounter. So decent in fact that I’m going to direct you there instead of writing my own one: Manchester United vs Arsenal. Monday 13th December 2010

With a United-free couple of weekends, I thought I’d take the opportunity to look over an issue that I’ve touched upon at various points this season and last season: the worsening state of the Premier League’s elite… …Or, as the argument progresses, perhaps it is the heightening levels of understanding and overall improvement by the ‘other’ teams in the League? So, in order to analyse, let us look back to the way things were…  A few seasons back, the Premier League was undisputedly the best league in the world. In Ronaldo, Drogba, Torres and Henry, we had four of the best players in the world playing for arguably the four best teams on the planet. And on the Continental stage, we thrived. An English side took up at least one of the Champions League final places every season from 2004/05 to 2008/09, and three of the four semi-final places from 06/07 to 08/09. But something happened after 2008/09. As United aimed to make history by securing our second European Cup in as many years, havi

Uneventful, mistake-ridden, awful in the final third and can’t finish to save our lives. Just another game in United’s below-par season! Good . Top of the group . Ludicrously harsh opening statement there, of course. We got the job done with the point we needed and cleared the group with an impressive 14 points, and that’s all that matters. So what does that mean? No Barca, Real or Bayern in the next round. However let’s not forget that the likes of Lyon, AC and holders Inter are hardly going to give us an easy ride. Anderson . He was influential as he was against Blackburn, and nowhere near as wasteful or lazy as he was against West Ham. The sporadic nature of his form proves that he is still a way off full fitness. He played nearly the entire game yesterday (subbed for Fletcher late on) but after 60 minutes was panting as wildly as Benitez after climbing the seven stairs to the Old Trafford dugout. Either way, he played brilliantly yesterday; pinging the ball in the fashion of his me