United – if it didn’t make you cry, you don’t love Manchester United

Anything related to Manchester United is bound to create an interest in me and if it is something related to the crash of Munich, you bet I am interested. United is a television series on that crash which was aired by BBC.

United is the story of 1957/58 Manchester United team and focuses primarily on Sir Bobby Charlton and assistant coach Jimmy Murphy. Sir Bobby is trying to breakthrough into the United team which is full of players of the highest caliber. He constantly keeps asking Jimmy about his chances to play in the first team. When he is finally given a chance, he is delighted.

Never ever write Manchester United off

That is a big statement to make. Very big. But this statement cannot be made for any other team in the premier league but Manchester United. The game against Bolton proved it once again. Down to 10 men. Not playing the best game of football. Probably deserved to be behind. 1 point would have been good enough from the game based on performance. But we got 3 points. We got the win. The determination and the will to win tells you what Manchester United are made of.

Manchester United 2-1 Marseille

0-0 result from the away leg is always a tough score line to take home considering that a scored draw can throw you out of the competition. And as is the case with Manchester United, there is always that belief that we can get the job done. And the same happened against Marseille, we did the job with a 2-1 victory to take us through to the next round of the Champions League. Let us look at some of the talking points from the game:

7 defenders and we still win

Games against Arsenal are always high profile games no matter what competition it is in. And coming into the game this weekend after losses against Chelsea and Liverpool, there weren’t very high hopes but there was belief that we can still do it. And did that belief come good – it definitely did.

This hurts big time

A 3-1 loss to Liverpool hurts more than a 3-1 loss to any other team. Especially considering how poor we were. There were no bad refereeing calls in this one unlike the Chelsea game. We were outplayed completely on the pitch. Liverpool seemed to be more up for the game and rightfully won it.

Wigan 4-0 Manchester United

A trip to Wigan is effectively 3 points ensured. But the way this season has gone, we could never be sure. But belief is a big word and if you have belief you can overcome everything.

Opportunity lost?

Observations from the Marseille game:

• Gibson has one of his better games. It was a surprise for me that he started but he at least tried harder in this game compared to some of his recent performances. Some of his passes did reach his team mates and some of his passes showed his vision though not successful.

Derby ended by a class goal…

The first Manchester derby of this season turned out to be a very dull affair and honestly, I didn’t expect this one to be any better. But how wrong was I?

ManCity lined up with 3 holding mid-fielders as I expected them to be with Yaya Toure in a more advanced role. Silva was given a free role on the right and Kolarov was on the left. Tevez was up front and Richards, Kompany, Lescott and Zabaleta lining up in the defense. My big question before the game was if Fergie will start with both Berbatov and Rooney but he decided to have Rooney as the lone front man with Nani and Giggs supporting on the flanks. Midfield comprised of Scholes, Anderson and Fletcher. O’Shea, Smalling, Vidic and Evra completed the defensive line up.

We finally lose…

We are no longer unbeaten in the Premier League. We have our first loss of the season against Wolves this weekend. It was an off day for almost everyone at the office.

We were hit with an injury right before the start of the game when Rio went out. He was replaced by Evans in the starting lineup with Smalling joining the substitutes bench. Considering Evans’ performances this season I am always worried whenever he plays in. But recently he has showed glimpses of his talent once again and I was hoping that this game would witness that talent as well. But unfortunately that did not happen. We lacked our usual calmness and organization in the defense and conceded two goals from set pieces.

Danny’s future in doubt?? I doubt…

Darren Bent has almost sealed his move from Sunderland to Aston Villa. As a Manchester United fan this is a very interesting news. Reason being that this raises many questions marks over Danny Wellbeck’s United future. Wellbeck is thriiving in his loan spell at Sunderland and has not yet revealed anything about his desire to stay at the Stadium of Light or return to Old Trafford.