Still Following the Trawler

Van der saar. 8.5 A near flawless campaign from one of our most consistent and by far our most underrated player. Although the name Van der saar was not associated with the dizzying 14-games-in-a-row-without-conceding euphoria of last season, he has still managed to get on with his game, keep out the prosperous likes of Foster and Kuszczak, and even produced some wonder saves from Muamba away to Bolton and on the final game against Stoke to keep some crucial clean-sheets. Rafael. 7 An important season for the young Brazilian. While he has continued to improve and in turn feature more and more in Sir Alex’s plans, he has also shown a few signs of inevitable immaturity. His sending off at home to Munich in the Champions League Semi-Final second leg – arguably our most important game of the season – was foolish and potentially costly. Still, no one can deny his contribution (especially when coming forward, where he excels most); and I’m not sure about anyone else, but on the basis of ...

Yes, it’s over a week late. But can anyone blame me for delaying my reflection of such a disappointing season end? Although I stated so profusely in my review of the Sunderland game (which turned out to be more a dissection of our chances after the Liverpool/Chelsea match) that the race was over, it was still horribly hard to take. A confident, utterly dominant display at home to Stoke was meaningless. As Park snatched the fourth – knowing at that stage Chelsea had well and truly wrapped it up (thanks to the reaction of the pathetic away fans. ‘Who the F**K do you support!?’) – he simply trudged away, ironically disconsolate. The day was billed to be an exciting, tense culmination of a truly up-and-down season. A fitting ending therefore, the tabloids would have you believe, for one final, glorious twist. A late N’Zogbia screamer to level things at the Bridge perhaps? As it was however, the afternoon screamed conventionality and inevitability. A convincing result for United was comple...

The final weekend is so nearly among us, and although many believe the race was dusted as the Scouser's inevitably failed to do us a favour, we will still nonetheless be delightfully boosted by the recovered Rooney and recovering Rio; who missed Sunday's victory over Sunderland. Either way, we're in it till the death, and if you're a fan of   online betting   you can be constantly be assured that Fergie's boys will give everything on the field to get the  victory. Rooney's return - having just recovered from an ankle injury and after missing the Tottenham game with some 'groin discomfort - will no doubt increase United's expectations at destroying Stoke. And Rio, who could also return for this Sunday’s final game after recovering from that groin injury that he suffered away to Blackburn, will be a welcomed addition, as we hope to end the campaign with a clean-sheet on top of the win. There is still the slimmest air of hope; as Martinez's pre...

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...

If someone said to me at the beginning of the season that we would have to rely on  Liverpool  to help us win the title and therefore overtake them as the most successful English team - converting into massive Liverpool fans for the penultimate weekend of the season - I would have literally thrown the afro wig and shell-suit I was being handed right back in his face. However equally, if that very same soul informed me that United would still be right in the thick of the title race – after 7defeats, struggling against the likes of Birmingham and Sunderland and winning the title on a fairly average 85 points – I’d pick the wig and tracksuit up off the ground and beat them silly with it. We have been in this position endless amount of times before: losing form at certain periods in the season, relying on a little help from old foes and, through it all, coming out on top. Take last season for example. We suffered a minor blip in March but thankfully restored our confidence an...

Once a Red ...