Still Following the Trawler

I know it's late, but after news six days ago revealing  one of United's and England's greatest ever players, Bryan Robson, is battling throat cancer , I thought it's never too late to reminisce his greatness. Captain Marvel: Making a tackle in his first visit to Wembley... FA Cup 1983: ...and trophy at United. FA Cup 1985: Another Cup win, this time under Big Ron; this time defeating Everton 1-0 with Norman Whiteside's stunning goal. World Cup 1986: Robson was injured during the '86 World Cup, his first as captain of his country, aggravating a shoulder injury in the group game against Morocco. FA Cup 1990: Leading Ferguson's United to their first trophy.  Premier League 1992/93: After 26 long years, United finally win the title in the Premier League's first season; with Robbo as captain. Double 1993/94: Leading United to our second title in a row, as well as the FA Cup to this incredible double-winning season. The side - consisting of Schmeichel,

Media Reaction : United 2-0 Arsenal , 12th March 2011 Paul Wilson, the Guardian Manchester United are still on for a treble, while in under a fortnight Arsenal have gone from fighting on four fronts to concentrating on the league, if that hoariest of euphemisms may be permitted. If Arsène Wenger's players concentrate really hard they still have an excellent chance of denying United the title, though this  FA Cup  defeat was an immense psychological blow. Not only did United win as if the blip of the past couple of weeks had merely been a bad dream, they did so with a much-changed, almost unrecognisable side... Oliver Brown, the Telegraph It is an absurd garment, far too large for him, and on the loneliness of the Old Trafford touchline last night he seemed to be retreating deeper into his consoling warmth as Arsenal’s season folded around him. For  Arsenal  to tumble out of one competition out of the four they once contested might be passed off as an accident. To slip from two in

Good. Super super Dimi . His first United league goal coming off the bench may well be his most important. The hattricks, stunning over-head kicks and five-in-a-game performances mean nothing if they don't contribute to a successful season, arguably evident in the fact that our 20 goal man has had to watch on from the bench as the Rooney-Hernandez partnership has flourished in recent games. However on a day that we were being increasingly frustrated by a resilient Bolton team and Arsenal were held by West Brom (they drew and lost two points. Remember that. So any reports you read suggesting it was a great Arsenal fight back are lies), Berbs' scrambled goal in the 87th minute was simply perfect. Our previous two league defeats on the trot were horrible and could have been utterly detrimental to our season, however thanks to legendary Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson's West Brom side playing for their lives against the Gooners, coupled with the dramatic finale to our game, those

United (Berbatov, 87) 1-0 Bolton “ Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future. ” Bryan Moseley West Brom 2-2 Arsenal

Although a couple of players have thankfully removed themselves from the injured list just in time for this afternoon's potentially tricky tie at home to Bolton, I thought I'd still remind you all of the rather annoying predicament we find ourselves in at this current time... Lindegaard (knee) O'Shea (hamstring) Vidic (calf) Ferdinand (calf) Evans ( NOW FIT - starts vs. Bolton) Rafael (hamstring) Hargreaves (knee) Anderson (knee) Fletcher (virus) Park (hamstring) Owen ( NOW FIT - on the bench vs. Bolton)

Player Ratings vs. Marseille. 15th March 2011 Van der sar 7 . Nowhere near as influential or important as he was against Arsenal at the weekend, simply because he didn't need to be. For all of Marseille's impressive resilience to see them needing only a goal in the final 10 minutes to secure their place in the Quarter Finals, they only managed 5 shots on target in total and zero after they scored. O'Shea 6 . He played a sturdy 35 minutes before his injury. More pressingly however was the fact his replacement at right-back - Rafael - pulled up with the exact same injury on 69 minutes. Two right-backs and two possibly detrimental hamstring injuries (Rafael has already been reported to be out for a month ) in the same match. Seriously, what the f**k? Smalling 7 . The hype and astonishment surrounding Smalling's rise up the ranks (for those who miss the 47,000 times a game the commentators mention it, it was exactly three years ago when he was playing for Maidstone Unite

Liverpool 3-1 United.   The FACTS : 1.   Firstly, a huge w ell done to Liverpool for taking a massive step towards another Europa League spot . It looks as though we'll just have to settle for a title race. Again. 2.  Secondly: No excuses. Seriously, none. Very little creativity going forward, our best player Nani had the worst 45 minutes of his career, and our defence was completely shattered without at least one of Vidic or Rio controlling things - on that note, I hope Vidic felt a tad guilty for proceedings yesterday after his red at Stamford Bridge . We embarrassed ourselves and I fear have finally drawn a close to our 'getting away with playing shit' style of football this season. We have never managed to step up or maintain a steady run of good form, and so with two defeats on the trot - funny to think we were once tipped as going the whole season unbeaten - we can no longer rely on our winging-it style, or indeed the poor results of others. Arsenal (hardly the most f

Two words: Robbed.   Again. Player Ratings. Van der Sar 7 ; O'Shea 7 , Smalling 7 , Vidic 8 , Evra 7 ; Nani 6 , Scholes 6 , Carrick 6 , Fletcher 6; Rooney 7 , Hernandez 6