Good Ol' Times

It has been to long since my last post, but hopefully I will clear the air as to why and start this season off with a great big bang. I have a few things to catch up, which ranges from departures of old players and arrivals of new players, plus the new kit, the American tour, the Community shield, and the upcoming weeks for United.

Edwin Van Der Sar



In his last game, Edwin Van Der Sar had to play against the World Champions, Barcelona. As we all know, the game ended with Barcelona winning 3 - 1 against Manchester United. A very sad game for United all around, losing the Champion's League and losing one of the greatest keepers to step on the pitch, as proven by his long and illustrious career.

On August 3, 2011 a testimonial match was played in the Amsterdam Arena in honor of Edwin van der Sar. The match featured the goalkeepers' "dreamteam" consisting of: Wayne Rooney, John Heitinga, Louis Saha, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidić, André Ooijer, Dirk Kuijt, Gary Neville, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Boudewijn Zenden and Dennis Bergkamp with Sir Alex Ferguson as manager. They faced the current AFC Ajax first team led by Frank de Boer. His team managed to pull off a win, 2-1, against Ajax.

It was also noted that he would eventually start beginning his coaching career, but has stated many times that he wished to take his time with it and enjoy the time off he has with football.

Paul Scholes



Another long term and great player of Manchester United, Paul Scholes announced his retirement at the end of last season, at the age of 36. Paul spent his entire career playing for Manchester United, boasting some incredible stats for a midfielder.

Coming off of a pretty strong season, Scholes decided to hang his boots to give way for some of the new players coming through the United camp.

He played a testimonial match against New York Cosmos at Old Trafford to honour his 17 years of service to United. Manchester won the match 6–0, with Scholes opening the scoring with a trademark strike from 25 yards out.

Check out his goal right here!

New players coming in!



This summer's transfer window saw Manchester United dominate the market, picking up Ashley Young, David de Gea, and Phil Jones, with other signings also able to happen, most notable is Wesley Sneijder.

David de Gea

David de Gea is a 20 year old Goalie from Madrid, who was brought in at the age of 10 by Atlético Madrid to be raised in their enviroment to be first choice goalie. After many successes with the club, including helping his team win both the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup, while his performances attracted the attention of Manchester United.

He was signed on to compete with Anders Lindegaard to replace Edwin Van der Sar, Anders, who signed on last year, hasn't played a match since last season.

Ashley Young

Ashley Young is a 26 year old, winger who came over and signed to United from Aston Villa. He ended the 2010/2011 season with nine goals and fourteen assists in 39 appearances for Villa in all competitions. He played during the American Tour and also during the FA Community shield match, which happened today.

Phil Jones

Phil Jones is a 19 year old defensive midfielder/defender who had played his very short and early career with Blackburn Rovers. He signed with Manchester United during the summer and played during one of the matches along the American Tour and played in the FA Community Shield, getting a chance to prove his defending skills.

American Tour




This year during the off-season, we find the team is back on United States soil, playing against the MLS and all that they have to offer, while giving a chance for the team to learn how to work with the newer players.

Here is the results of the amazing tour that I wish I could have taken part of!:

Jul 13 FT New England 1-4 Manchester United

Jul 23 FT Chicago 1-3 Manchester United

Jul 27 FT MLS All Stars 0-4 Manchester United

Jul 30 FT Barcelona 1-2 Manchester United

As you can see it was very favorable for the team as they marched across the US, winning everywhere they went and even getting slight revenge against Barcelona, who knocked them out of the Champion's League and won the cup last year. The only player missing from their line up, was of course, Messi.

FA Community Shield



Today saw the beginning of the Premier League with a Manchester derby match for the FA Community Shield. In front of a sold out crowd at Wembley, Manchester City and Manchester United clashed together early in the day (Early in the morning for me, 9:30 AM!!).

The match started out as a great battle, with both sides' defense really stepping up to the plate, but it was Manchester City, who looked almost on their heels, that came out and scored first with a shot into the corner net in the 38th minute from City's Joleon Lescott, which slipped past a slow moving de Gea.

It was almost a surprise, with the likes of Rooney, Welbeck, Young, and Nani just shredding City's mid fielders and dancing around the field with some amazing passing, but they could not get the ball into the net.

After 45th minute came and gone, before half-time, City's Edin Dzeko grabbed a nice Milner, and United's midfield left him alone for far too long. Dzeko laser shot the ball into the net, which looked like it could have been a easy save for de Gea, who let the ball go in.

Ferguson decided at the half to use three subs right out of the gate, replacing Vidic, Ferdinand and Michael Carrick and introduce a trio of youngsters in Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Tom Cleverley.

Within six minutes of the ball drop and the second half starting, Chris Smalling had dragged the champions back into it, touching home Ashley Young's free-kick after City's Dzeko had completely failed to track his run.

Then came the equaliser, with Rooney, Nani and Cleverley opening City up with a devastating series of short passes before Nani beat Joe Hart with a delicate chip.

De Gea finally stepped up his game during the second half, proving that he is here to earn his position and right to play, by beating away a smashing goalbound effort from Adam Johnson, then palming Richards' powerful header over, keeping it out of the goal.

Eventually, Welbeck was replaced by Berbatov and Rafael replaced Evra, and it took the game to late into injury time when a blunder happened with City's Kompany failing to read Rooney's clearing punt, allowing Nani to rob him and charge forward, rounding Hart before tapping home to score for United, giving them yet another great comeback and the Community Shield.

The start of the season, finally!



With the Community Shield match over, it pretty much means the start of the Premier League next weekend and it could not have come at a sooner time! The transfer window is still open till August 31st, so more players could come to United, but so far the squad is looking strong and could be another title season!

personal notes: So like I was saying, I pretty much burned myself out last April and decided to take time off and just enjoy my summer as much as I could, preparing for the new season. I have a few plans, including a second blog for all Football news that any Footballer will want to read! Stay tuned! Glory glory!