REVIEW OF THE NOUGHTIES: 2007/2008

2007/08. Follow, Follow,
Follow…

The years of rebuilding, restructuring and redefining
Manchester United had finally come to this. By maturely ignoring the
post-Abramovic Chelsea hype in the brilliant professional way that only Sir
Alex knows how, he instead brought in new youthful talent (Anderson and Nani),
solid holding players to bolster our defensive-midfield (Hargreaves and Carrick
the season before), aggressive attackers to complement Rooney (Tevez)…and in
the mean time, let Ronaldo blossom and flourish into the best in the world.

I can't really say a lot more about this magical season, as words will truly never do it justice...so I'll let the pictures do the talking and remind us of the greatest season in the decade (as if we'll ever forget it).

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Players In.

Nani

Anderson

Hargreaves

Tevez

Top 4:

United                       – 87

Chelsea                        – 85

Arsenal                        – 83

Liverpool                     – 76

                       

Bottom 4:

Fulham                        – 36

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Reading                       – 36

Birmingham City       – 35

Derby                          – 11

Player. Ronaldo. Simply the best performance of the decade –
by any player for any team in any league. 42 goals – including one in the
Champions League Final – and god knows how many sublime performances that
eventually and deservedly led him to Ballon d’Or and Fifa World Player of the
Year success.

Special mention needs to be given to Rio as well, for his consistantly perfect performances all season long that were just as crucial as Ronaldo's. I truly feel we had the two best players in the world playing for us that year. What an honour.

Goal. Take your pick from one of Ronnie’s gems. The Portsmouth free kick is probably his most talked about goal of the season for the sheer
technique and scientifically impossible fashion the ball flew into James’s top
corner. His cheeky back-heel at home to Villa was truly ridiculous. He had scored headers, volleys, free-kicks and stunners from distance this season; but you feel this was the one that cemented him as a truly innovative, unbelievable genius. As for non-Ronaldo goals? There has to be only one: the beautiful goal that put us into the final of the European Cup.

Remembered for?

Silly question (see pictures above).

Best to forget...

It’s hard to forget anything about such a perfect season, as
even the supposedly ‘forgettable’ matches provided shining lights at the end
of the tunnel…

The Carling Cup exit at home to Coventry
was pretty humiliating, especially as it was only £18million Anderson’s
second start and he utterly failed to impress. Yet it thankfully acted as a
learning curve, as the 19 year improved; gaining immense confidence as the
season progressed. The defeat at home to Portsmouth in the cup was also pretty rubbish, especially as KitKat got himself sent off; leading to one of our seasons best players, Ferdinand, being forced into trying his hand as 'keeper:

Just to put an necessary amount of realism (actually, more like pessimism) on the season's end, March 29^th - the 4-0 victory at home to Villa - was
our last truly brilliant performance of the season. After that we suffered
somewhat and you could potentially start to see the year's hard work catching up
with us. We had disappointing draws at Middlesbrough and
Blackburn that meant we still had work to do in the last
three games; starting with away to Chelsea.
We lost 2-1 – with Ballack’s last minute penalty winning it – and so that meant
we were unable to win the title at Old Trafford. Still, last day excitement meant we
beat Wigan 2-0, even though a draw would have sufficed
as Chelsea bottled it and drew 1-1 with Bolton.