It's amazing how long it's been since I last posted, and so much has happened since then. I am hoping after the Christmas break I'll be able to post a lot more than usual, and keep my blog more active than normal.
Premier League Update
Sadly, there has been so much that has happened since I last posted in September that catching up on every detail on every game will pretty much force me to write a entire book! So, I am just going to sum up most games, and the biggest games I'll talk a little more about, so hang tight!!
September 24th
Manchester United traveled to the Britannia Stadium to take on Stoke, hoping to carry on their great start to the season. A early goal from Nani in the 27th minute looked to hold the game for United, till Crouch scored a smasher goal in the 52th minute, which lasted till the end of the match, the game ending in a one one draw. Rooney did not play during this game.
October 1st
United hosted Norwich City at Old Trafford, hoping to recover quickly after drawing against Stoke during their last game. A game dominated mostly by United, lasted till the 68th minute when Anderson scored a goal. Then in the 87th minute Welbeck scored another goal, giving United the seal they needed for the game, winning two nill.
October 15th
After a bit of time off due to International play, United traveled to Anfield to take on long time rivals Liverpool, hoping to beat them at home and carry on riding at the top of the Premier League. A Steven Gerrard goalat the 68th minute almost sealed the game for the home side, but Javier Hernandez scored late in the game, at the 87th minute to recover the game for United, sending them packing with a one one draw.
October 23rd
This day was a very dark day for any United fan. Manchester United hosted their noisy neighbors, Manchester City, hoping to win again after their Carling Cup win over them before the season started.
City had other plans. United went down one nill at half time, seemingly a very close game was forming, but it wasn't till the second half when City took off. Balotelli scored for the second time in the 60th minute, then Aguero scored 8 minutes later.
Darren Fletcher scored late in the 81st minute to try and draw United back, being down 3-1, but two goals from Dzeko and a goal from Silva sealed the fate of United, sending them tumbling out of the top of the Premier league and their first loss of the season, six one.
October 29th
United, heart broken and feeling majorly down about the derby match, rode away to Goodison Park to take on Everton, hoping to start re-building their self-esteem and to carry on in the Premier League. Javier Hernandez scored in the 19th minute, and it stayed that way for the rest of the game, a one nill win for United.
November 5th
Sunderland traveled to Old Trafford to fight United in another Premier League match up. Right before half-time, Wes Brown, former United player, put the ball into the net after heavy pressure from United.
Yet again, United walked away with a one nill win, seemingly thanking their former team-mate for the goal.
November 19th
United was struggling at this point to keep up with Manchester City, who sat five points up on them. They traveled to the Liberty Stadium to face off against Swansea city, who held a unbeaten record at their Stadium at the time United arrived.
Another early goal sealed United another one nill win, in the 11th minute from Javier Hernandez. Slowly but surely, United was creeping their way back towards the top of the Premier League.
November 26th
In a very important match United hosted Newcastle, who was sitting directly behind United on the table, at Old Trafford. The game was very controversial, with a few reffing decisions failing to go either side which could have changed the out-come of the game completely!
Instead, the game ended in a one one draw, another Javier Hernandez goal and a penalty shot from Demba Ba for Newcastle, giving both teams only one point to go into next weekend.
December 3rd
United quickly traveled to Villa Park, to take on Ashley Young's former team. New-come player Phil Jones scored the only goal in the game at the 20th minute, giving United three points.
December 10th
The latest Premier League match up, had Manchester United hosting Wolverhampton Wolves, who constantly year in and year out had given the Champions such a hard time whenever they played.
Well, two braces from Nani and Rooney, sealed the game and made sure United were only two points away from Manchester City, after City lost to Chelsea. Rooney hasn't scored since September, strangely the last time I posted a blog.
Today
Here is the current layout of the Premier League team tables;
Manchester City - 38 points
Manchester United - 36 points
Chelsea FC - 31 points
Tottenham - 31 points
Arsenal FC - 29 points
Liverpool - 26 points
Newcastle United - 26 points
Stoke City - 21 points
Aston Villa - 19 points
Norwich City - 19 points
Swansea City - 17 points
Everton - 16 points
QPR - 16 points
Fulham - 15 points
West Bromwich - 15 points
Sunderland - 14 points
Wolverhampton - 14 points
Wigan Athletic - 12 points
Blackburn Rovers - 10 points
Bolton Wanderers - 9 points
Champions League
If you do not know by now, United are out of the Champions League. I only have a few games to go over, and it'll be quick since I have many more things to go over!
September 27th
Manchester United hosted FC Basel after their previous match, hoping to gain some points over a seemingly easy to beat team, which was Basel. Instead the game ended in almost a horror way for United.
Welbeck scored twice back to back in the 16th minute and the 17th minute, which held out till halftime. After halftime though, something sparked inside the Basel team as they started scoring, Fabian Frei scoring in the 58th minute and then Alexander Frei scoring two minutes later to tie up the game.
Then, FC Basel was given a penalty shot in the 76th minute, which Alexander Frei again smashed home and gave Basel the lead over United at Old Trafford.
Ashley Young, new-boy to United, scored in injury time to give United a bit of a breather, giving them a three three draw, though still disappointing.
October 18th
United traveled to the Stadionul National to take on Otelul Galati. After suffering a draw against FC Basel at home, United looked to get some sort of revenge and put actual points on their group table, which they were able to successfully do.
A Wayne Rooney penalty at the 64 minute gave United the lead, but it was slightly spoiled by Vidic being sent off two minutes later. It wasn't late until injury time when another Wayne Rooney penalty gave United a two nill victory over Otelul Galati.
November 2nd
United hosted Otelul Galati, looking for another win against a team they beat earlier on. It was that case, another two nill win for United, who had goals come from Valencia in the 8th minute, and a Cristian Sarghi own goal in the 87th minute, giving United another victory for them in the group stages.
November 22nd
United hosted Benfica at Old Trafford, hoping to carry on their good form in the past two games they had, but it was not the case this time around as they left the game with another draw, two two.
Benfica jumped on the board early, due to a Phil Jones own goal, but it was later canceled out by a smashing goal from Dimitar Berbatov, at the 30th minute. After halftime, Darren Fletcher sent another United goal in, giving United a two one over Benfica, but only a minute later, Pablo Aimar scored for Benfica, pretty much sealing the game for the two teams, giving a point each.
December 7th
A must win away game, United traveled to St Jakob-Park to play FC Basel. United had to either draw or win the game to move onto the knock out stages, but from the start it looked like it was going to be one helluva a fight for United.
With such a strong battle waging within the first few minutes, it ended quickly with Basel scoring first, by the way of Marco Streller. After that goal, United had chance after chance after chance to score and keep scoring but none of the United players were able to put the ball home.
Alexander Frei nearly killed the hopes for United fans, as he smashed home another goal for Basel in the 84th minute, with everything seemingly all over. A quick counter-reaction goal from Phil Jones in the 89th minute gave United some hope, but it was all but over, as the final whistle blew and United marched back to the locker room, crashing out of the Champions League.
Carling Cup
United dominated the Carling cup for most of their time in it, winning early against most of the teams they were paired against, until a surprising home loss.
September 20th
United went to Elland Road to play long time rivals Leeds United in the fourth round, with Ferguson letting Michael Owen play, which proved to be the best choice as he scored a brace with Ryan Giggs scoring a goal, giving United a three nill win over Leeds.
October 25th
United, again on the road, traveled to the EBB Stadium at the Recreation Ground to play Aldershot in the third round of the Carling Cup, leaving the stadium with another three nill victory, with goals from Berbatov, Owen, and Valencia.
November 30th
Finally hosting a Carling Cup game, United hosted Crystal Palace and maybe over estimated the team that was coming to play them, as Ferguson fielded a very young squad. United came crashing out of the Carling Cup, losing two one to Crystal Palace, the only goal from United came by way of a penalty shot from Federico Macheda, but Crystal Palace smashed two goals from Darren Ambrose and Glenn Murray to give them the win.
FA Cup
United was drawn against Manchester City in the third round of the FA Cup, giving many fans on both sides a reason to look forward as the up-coming Derby match can be very important for not only the FA Cup, but also how the Premier League can keep running.
Europa League
Both Manchester clubs crashed out of the Champion's league on the same night, even though City made the 10 point "usual" limit, Napoli was able to secure a win and move on instead of them. Both teams now relegated to the Europa league got drawn up against two tough match ups. For Manchester United, they will play Ajax Amasterdam, a team Sir Alex Ferguson has never played in his long stint at United and all of the team is looking forward to it.
Manchester City got paired up with last year winner's Porto.
Closing Notes
As a United Fan, I cannot lie that I am not a little bit worried as we look at our current squad and all of the injuries that we are sitting with, so the January transfer window will be very important for the team, with the hopes Ferguson will boost our currently crumbling mid-field. I have much faith in our current squad, but I do not believe some of our newer youngsters, such as Pogba and Morrison, are fully ready to play first team football on the level that United needs them too.
But, with City finally losing and United only two points off, the next few matches will be especially important for both teams, and the Winter is really heating up!
Stay tuned, I'll be posting more and more as I gain more time to actually take time out and post, which I should have!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wow, it's been awhile..
Posted by Kevin Irwin at 5:48 PM
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