Still Following the Trawler

United will find out on 7th August who they will face in the play-off round of the Champions League - however the full list of the opponents we could potentially face has been revealed: Possible opponents for ManUtd in the Champions League qualifiers. pic.twitter.com/KI5t3kT755 — UtdData (@UtdData) June 1, 2015

On this day in 2008... https://t.co/S7lApSmuJM — Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 21, 2015

...The players who will make history... So, the time is nearly among us. This has been probably the longest week of my life - unable to concentrate at work, encapsulating myself with every ounce of pre-match build-up I could find and reading the f**k out of every expert preview and patronising guide on 'how United can beat Barca'. But I'm not interested in that - because quite simply, we'll beat Barca if we don't allow them time on the ball and in turn minimise the impact of their attacking players. Play with assertion and confidence like we did against Chelsea in the Champions League, again against them in the title decider, or even against Schalke over both legs in the Semi's, and we will be Champions of Europe. Ultimately, if we play as a unit we can do it. And below are the chosen ones who can lead us to the promised land once again... Goal Van der Sar Age : 40 Champions League Appearances 2010/11 : 9 An absolute no brainer. One of the greatest 'keepers ...

Jonathon Wilson, the Guardian , on how to stop the unstoppable, almighty, incredible, best team in the entire fucking Universe that is Barcelona. The Telegraph's Henry Winter reckons Bob Paisley taught Fergie a thing or two Soccerlens'   match preview Stretford End Arising analyses are best XI and how they  can win us the Champions League But according to Surreal Football , United haven't got a hope in help

Part two of my build-up to Saturdays final looks back at my reaction to 2009's utterly controversial Semi-Final second leg clash between Chelsea and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, where Barca edged the win and secured their place in the final against United...   Wasteful Chelsea, lucky Barca...'IT'S A F**KING DISGRACE!' Posted by   The Cockney Red WEDNESDAY, 6 MAY 2009 Well there you have it: after about 75 clear-cut penalty shouts and 1 single, stinging shot on target for  Barca , Chelsea are out. Am I happy that they lost? Definitely. Am I happy that we have  Barca  in the Final?  Hmm . I celebrated like a psycho when  Iniesta  belted it into the top corner (an absolute beaut), but is this what I, and therefore Man United, actually wanted? At least the extra motivating agenda of 'Chelsea and John Terry getting revenge' is wiped out, but then Chelsea we know. As a result, we know that we can beat them. In terms of the way they line-up, they are ...

In 'preperation' for Saturday's epic encounter against Barca, I thought I would reflect on the last time we were in this situation - exactly two years against the exact same opposition. Starting with my first ever post on this blog (aww), here is my reaction to the 3-1 Semi Final win at the Emirates... You Stay Classy Manchester United... Posted by   The Cockney Red WEDNESDAY, 6 MAY 2009 To quote my hero Ron Burgendy, I am in a glass cage of emotion. Although Burgendy was most definitely not referring to waking life as a Football and/or Manchester United fan, He is the worlds greatest prophet of life and wisdom; to question this absolute powerhouse of knowledge would therefore be foolish and ignorant beyond belief. This divine being knows and can tell you EVERYTHING you ever need to know about everything: the ladies, diversity (a Spanish ship),  San Diego (Def: a whales vagina), hair, sharp suits, scotch and jazz-flute. Football, you’d assume, has to come somewhere in the m...

Good. Performance . When I first saw the line-up, heavily influenced by tomorrows league game - no Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Giggs, Rooney or Hernandez - I was confused. It looked as thought we were going into an insignificant 4th round Carling Cup game against second tier opposition, not a game that, if  we overcame the opposition, would see us enter the most prestigious continental cup final in the world. However, as with in the first leg, the quality that our opposition lacked provided our largely inexperienced side with a surprisingly straight forward encounter. Schalke have been  possibly the weakest, least challenging side we have ever faced in a Champions League semi-final, however our displays over both legs - the coherence we showed as a unit, our confidence and prowess in front of goal, and the solid defensive displays (even though two completely different sets of defenders were used for each game) - should not be ignored, nor disregarded due to the lack of a...

Prior to the game, all the talk was understandably about United's poor form against, and failure to overcome, German opposition in the Champions League. So as the tabloids so delighted in reminding us: first came Borrusia Dortmund in 1996/97 - our first memorable appearance in the competition - where our heroic 4-0 performance against Porto in the Quarter Final was reduced to mere memories (firmly securing it's status in the now classic genre of 'great European nights at Old Trafford'). Fast forward to 2001 and it was Bayern's turn to do us and in turn seek revenge for '99 and all that. It was then the unfancied and underestimated Leverkusen the season after that, going through on away goals, and finally we look back just over 12 months ago to Bayern's second pop at destroying us in the Quarter Finals, although this time round it was that bit more painful . It's fair to say therefore that the German's have a given us a good hiding over the years, del...

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL FIRST LEG Venue:   Veltins-Arena Date:  Tuesday 26 April Kick-off:  1945 BST Schalke 04 Bundesliga: Games W D L GD Pts 9 TSG Hoffenheim 31 10 10 11 2 40 10 Schalke 04 31 11 7 13 0 40 11 Werder Bremen 31 9 11 11 -14 38 League form: L D W W L W Last game  (23 rd   Ap ril, 2011) : Schalke 04 0-1  Kaiserslautern  (12th) Top Scorer: Raul – 12 (18 in total) United Premier League: Games W D L GD Pts 1 Manchester United 34 21 10 3     39 73 2 Chelsea 34 20 7 7 37 67 3 Arsenal 34 18 10 6 31 64 League form: W D L W W W Last game  (24th   April, 2011) : United 1-0  Everton  (7th) Top Scorer: Berbatov – 21 (22 in total)