Still Following the Trawler

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 ...

I hate the Sun . No-one who likes football, football writing and proper football opinion likes the Sun . Their consistent brand of crude, inaccurate reporting and unfunny writing style is annoying and completely boring, and the lame headlines to introduce their sensational stories are pathetic. That said, after stumbling upon their review of Sunderland game  in yesterday's poetically titled 'Super Super Goals' supplement - before you ask, no I didn't buy it, it just somehow found itself on my kitchen table! - their review of the match and the questions they posed were, unlike the majority of the shit inside the paper, entirely accurate. (...fitting perhaps that the only report I read of our worst performance so far this season was in the Sun ...)  The four questions they raised under one of those lame headlines, 'It Stinks Fergie' (partly a hilaaaarious reference to the sewage pipe that burst in the away dressing room ), were: Why stick Berbatov on the bench? Wh...

On Saturday, this was geared up to be the most important weekend of United’s season. And by 3:30pm on Sunday, before we’d even kicked a ball at Sunderland , our penultimate game of the season was instead deemed as insignificant as it was pointless. Perhaps like millions of other United fans, I had pinned my hopes a little too firmly on the Scousers helping us out , and so when the inevitable happened, the disappointment was immense. A lot of people are going to jump all too eagerly on Liverpool ’s passive and rather negative mindset going into this game – after all, why would they possibly  want United to win title no.19? However I was genuinely surprised, and, dare I say, impressed by the way they started so brightly and so full of eager intent. Well, that was until their captain realised exactly what was going on and decided to give Chelsea – who were shite for the first half an hour – and the a bit good Drogba an unnecessary hand to get things going. Up until then, we were righ...

...I hate writing this stupid section, as it addresses the worrying questions and problems of the day. Hopefully this'll be the last as we suddenly hit a ridiculous run of form where we comfortably and regularly slot 4/5 past teams and Nani finally proves he is the new Ronaldo...yeh. Foster. After his 2 mistakes against City and arguably 2 yesterday, serious questions now need to be raised about his ability and genuine capacity to be United no.1. For Bent's goal, he was off his line and probably mis-read his positioning, as his post was comletely uncovered and Bent was allowed to score a fairly soft passing shot - hardly a screamer - from a good 25 yards. And as for the second, he showed further immaturity, lack of assurance and confidence...essential traits that need to be sky high if you want to keep goal at United. Schmeical lacking confidence or showing hesitancy? Don't be silly. How often are we going to rely on Ferguson ’s hairdryer to get things going? In the last ...

from Republikofmancunia.org As we approached half time, I heard an old-time Old Trafford regular - well, he had grey hair, so I assumed from that he'd been coming for years...? - say that this is 'probably the worst performance [he'd] ever seen' and that he 'can't remember us ever playing this bad'. Immediately, as I heard this whispered yet powerful complaint of the game's opening half, I thought to myself: ‘I can definitely remember the last time we were this bad’; and I remembered that night in Rome . At least then, the excuses pretty much succeed in disguising our dismal performance: we were up against a masterful team, and you could even argue that the pressure of winning 4 trophies in a season had gotten to us...but what happened yesterday? Why the hell were we having this elderly Irishman's 'worst ever performance' and by far playing our worst football since the 27th May? In that first half I can't remember us creating a meanin...