REVIEW OF THE NOUGHTIES: 2008/2009
2008/09. Que Sera, Sera...
After the magical over achievements of 07/08, the following season was always going to be difficult in many ways. The summer brought another International tournament and yet more controversy circulated around the 'great one'. Although not quite on the same level as the blinking antics of World Cup '06, Ronaldo was the centre of Euro 2008's attention because of his inappropriate flirting with Real and Real's consequent 'we'll get him no matter what' approach.
As it was, it all appeared to be in the name of jest (well, sort of...) as he remained a United player through to the new season. It took a wee while for him to get going due to injury though, as his first appearance was the home draw against Villareal on September 17th; where he was undoubtedly greeted with rapturous applause and adoration by his faithful fans.
Oddly enough, I never thought at any continuous period during the season that we were amazing or even AS good as the previous season - even though the core of the side was firmly in tac and Fergie strengthened our attack with £30million Berbatov. Ironically though, we were en route to completing our most illustrious and successful season ever as we fantastically remained in all 4 competitions right up until the FA Cup semifinal on April 19th (losing on penalties to Everton...with Mr.£30mill taking a particularly shit pen). The Carling Cup was ours, as was the novelty-esque Club World Cup in December, so all that was left was the title and, of course, reaching a second European Cup final in as many years.
The title race was evidently a rather exciting and tense affair with Liverpool stepping up and (briefly) taking over from Chelsea as our closest rivals. It was all made so unnecessarily awkward at the business end however when we so nearly f**ked it up with the 4-1 defeat at home to you know who, followed by 2-0 at Fulham in March. Thanks to Arsenal (and special mention to Arshavin's four goals) helping us out when they visited Anfield in late April - as well as some inspired words based on FACTS by the Fat Spanish Waiter earlier in the year - the title was ours with a game in hand. 3 in a row and - just as the infamous banner told us to do so - we came back the following season with no.18.
Europe was not quite as special, as although we did reach the final again thanks to some virtuoso displays - and goals - by Ronaldo in the Quarter Finals against Porto and the Semi Final second leg against Arsenal, it was heartbreak and utter bull shite against Barcalona in the final, as they claimed a deserved 2-0 victory against a team that bottled it and failed to even show up.
Players In.
Berbatov
United – 90
Chelsea 83
Arsenal – 72
Bottom 4:
Hull – 35
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Newcastle – 34
Middlesbrough – 32
WBA – 32
Player. Vidic. Consistency and solidity at the back was the key for United's record breaking defence this season and Nemanja was truly Mr. Consistent and Solid...other than the Liverpool defeat!
Goal.
Ronaldo got a couple of gems – including the 30 yard bullet at the Dragao in the CL quarters – but the goal I loved most was our 3rd at the Emirates in the Semis (1:03). From Park, to Ronaldo, to Park, to Rooney, to Ronaldo in just over 10 seconds. Truly the benchmark on counterattacking for any manager to use as a ‘how to…’
Remembered for?
Samir Nasri, on 8th November 2008 was the last person to score against us in the League until Blackburn on February 21st. Our record breaking run of 14 games without conceding was truly phenomenal.
"'This was the day an unknown 17-year-old kid, brought on as a hunch, took the game, the season and his entire life by the scruff of the neck and decided: this is mine".
Also, this:
And this:
And, of course, this:
Best to forget...
Stadio Olympico,
be the first to admit that I occasionally construct my pieces with a rather
overly-emotional tone and I’ll sometimes read back my rants and passionate
posts and think ‘wow! What the hell was that??’. However reading back my
angry/depressive blog after the game, I feel it is still as effective and true
now as it was then.
Also...March 14th.
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