Rio and weekend fixtures

So the latest England qualifiers are finally over and once again we can all feel the disappointment of a constant under achieving England side that fails to deliver and looks as if their best chance of getting to the next World Cup would be through the play offs. It didn't get off to the best of starts with the whole Rio Ferdinand situation which as per usual of late an England manager showing a complete lack of knowledge and professionalism. Now correct me if i am wrong but if you were the manager and hadn't spoken to Rio for 10 months and you were considering him to be in the latest squad surely you would have picked up the phone and just got some of the finer details on his complicated training and fitness regime which has worked wonders for Rio in recent months. Well Roy seems to have the ability of not doing things quite like that so he had left himself open to Rio (under pressure from Sir Alex it has to be said) to get a bit of sweet revenge on Roy for the disgraceful way in which he had been treated by England over the past year.

 

So can anyone blame Rio for turning the chance to play for England again down? Well at least he had the intelligence to go and speak to Roy face to face (which is more than what Roy has done to him) but he then goes and shoots himself in the foot and loses all of the media's support that he was receiving by jumping on a plane to do some tv work for the England game. Now he should have just kept a low profile and out of the spotlight, instead he has left himself open to all kinds of criticism which could have been so easily avoided but not for one minute was i expecting him to get the kind of criticism that he received from a small section of England fans but should have i expected it? England fans are renowned for turning on Utd players in the past, in the mid 90's Utds players were regularly booed by England fans when the teams were announced before each kick off and more often than not it's a Utd player that ends up being the scapegoat if things go wrong so is it any wonder when Utd fans up and down the country have very little time for England anymore and i include myself in that. As for Rio his form has been excellent for us this season and  giving up playing for England would only prolong his career which on current form would only be good news for Utd fans.   

So we come to this weekends fixtures which see the reds take on Sunderland away in the league and Chelsea away in the FA cup. Its very difficult to try and second guess the boss with his team selection this week due to the long distances some of the players would have travelled but i think that he may play the stronger team on Monday in the cup and i hope he does as it's been far too long since we last won the FA cup and with Sunderland having major injury problems i think that game should take care of itself.There will be few sights that i ever see in my life worse than those Sunderland fans celebrating that we lost the league when we thought it was won at the end of last season so a good old fashioned hiding would give me great pleasure in seeing them fans who celebrated then pretty much crapping themselves of the thought of relegation and lets hope that they do get relegated.

So after hopefully sending Sunderland ever closer to the drop zone we face Chelsea away in the FA cup on Monday and after what has to be said as probably our most disappointing 2nd half display for some time we can count ourselves lucky to still be in the cup and that is mainly due to the magnificent last gasp save from David De Gea.The key player for us in this game will be Chicharito his goal scoring record for us against Chelsea is phenomenal so i think he will be a certain starter.One positive thing to come out of the international break was to see RVP getting on the score sheet for Holland as he has clearly been out of sorts in recent weeks for Utd this was only to be expected as he had got off to a blistering start to his Utd career and all forwards tend to go through lean spells from time to time.

So my predictions for the weekend are a convincing 0-3 win at Sunderland followed by a 0-2 win at Chelsea to set up a Manchester derby for the semi final and confidence will be high for game against City next week.    

What's happened to our wingers?

After a turbulent couple of weeks for Manchester United going out controversially to Real Madrid in the Champions League and losing a two goal lead to Chelsea in the FA cup it's back to the league with a home game against Reading.With the team being able to rest for the most part of the week there can be no excuses with fatigue today and with City already getting beat by Everton (that's karma for you) we can go 15 points clear today in what would surely be an uncatchable lead.

Manchester Utd have always had a great tradition in playing wingers and we have been blessed with seeing some of the best in the world playing for our club but what do we make of the current crop that we have at the club at the moment? Now my views on Nani have already been expressed in an earlier post on this site and nothing since writing that post has made me change my mind since.

So i will start with Ashley Young who has had a rocky start to his Utd career often injured,often accused of diving by the opposition and rarely producing the kind of form that he showed for Aston Villa.He has had the odd good game but he is struggling to get a regular game and when he does his form is patchy to say the least and in my opinion has been a big disappointment this season when he really should have been making his mark in the team.What he needs is a run of games injury free and to start producing consistent performances or else he just may well find himself surplus to requirements.

And so we come to Valencia.

 He made a steady start to his Utd career and then suffered a dreadful injury to his ankle which kept him out for a matter of months but his form when he returned was nothing short of sensational showing blistering pace and excellent crossing ability and was a main provider of goals and scoring the odd one too.He was the main outlet from defense to attack and was a joy to watch but that was last season.This season we have seen a totally different player and one who has lost complete confidence in almost all of his strengths and just looks completely out of sorts.

So how has this happened? And how does he get this confidence back? Well he has to get back to what he is good at, running at defenders and crossing in to the box but in his last game coming on as a sub early in the game for the injured Nani it was quite simply embarrassing to watch.His crossing worse than Nani's (and that's saying something) and his inability just to knock the ball past his man and run was a clear sign of a player at rock bottom confidence wise.Of course the groans from the crowd every time he makes a mistake won't help but they are entitled to make those feelings heard.

After the Chelsea game Twitter was awash with people venting their frustrations and the majority were aimed at Valencia (myself included) so it will be very interesting to see if he starts the game and it is imperative that he,Young,and Nani start putting in some real performances in the coming weeks with the imminent arrival of Zaha next season one of these wingers could quite easily be shown the Old Trafford exit door.         

Ryan Giggs; Tearing them apart since 91

The legend that is Ryan Giggs today signed a 1 year extension to his contract which will keep him playing into his 40's.The most decorated footballer in English football who made his debut in 1991 and has since scored in every Premier League season since will be gracing Old Trafford for at least one more season.

Now i was very lucky to be at Old Trafford the day that Ryan made his debut against Everton in a 0-2 defeat. I can remember clearly the buzz and excitement around the ground when Ryan came off the bench to replace the injured Dennis Irwin. Only 17 years old this stick like figure with jet black hair already had a growing reputation with Utd fans who had followed him in the youth team and reserves and this was his first chance to show what he could do on the biggest of stages.

He didn't disappoint oozing in confidence and showing electrifying pace as well as being able to glide past players as if they were not there even in the short period of time he was on the pitch every time he received the ball the crowd were on the edge of their seats. The whole stadium was buzzing and the fans left Old Trafford that Saturday (yes remember them days when we used to play on Saturday's on a regular basis) obviously down about the result but everyone was talking about Giggs. Personally i was mesmerized by it as i was only a couple of years older than Ryan and i could just not believe how good and how easy he made everything look it was time to believe that we had a real player on our hands.

The following week he scored with a deflected shot off Colin Hendry in the win over Manchester City, wow what a start to your career and from that moment on he never looked back. Over the next few seasons he was a pivital player in Alex Ferguson's title winning teams. At that time i was a season ticket holder and week in week out i travalled home and away with the Oxford and Banbury suppporters branch and we were rewarded with breathtaking displays of individual brilliance on a regular basis and i was constantly pinching myself that i was able to watch him play along with so many other great players at the time. It was a privilege and i knew it.

I never could get bored of watching his seemingly effortless way in which he went past players and with so many highlights it's difficult for me to say which is my favourite Ryan Giggs moment but the one that does stand out for me has to be QPR away in 1994 where he picked up a loose ball in center midfield and just started to waltz past defenders before going round the keeper and slotting the ball home with ease.An amazing goal which was followed by amazing celebrations from the fans behind the goal people were gasping for breath and trying to take in what had just happened. When i got home i went to my dad who had watched Utd in the 60's and had seen them all play and i said to him that Giggs had scored this goal today and the best way i could describe to him was that it could have been George Best. My dad smiled and said he would watch it later on match of the day,the next morning i was still buzzing and had watched the goal on numerous occasions and my dad agreed that seeing the goal had sent shivers down his spine which he had not experienced since watching the great George Best.

Ryan had already had to put up with comparisons to George and after he scored that goal at QPR inevitably the press and media went into overdrive and the publicity and pop star like fame had arrived at his door step which to his credit he has always handled impeccably, of course with Sir Alex as your manager and father figure which he has always been to younger players, Ryan unlike George was always able to keep his feet on the ground.

I can't write a piece on Ryan Giggs without mentioning the wonder goal in the 1999 FA cup semi final replay against Arsenal a truly brilliant individual goal with a celebration to match  including a pitch invasion and Ryan bearing a chest that a Gorilla would be proud of. I still can't see how people who do not follow football get their kicks out of life they will never experience  the utter elation and joy that football supporters can get when a player does something that special. Don't tell the wife but there is not a feeling like it in the world.

 Later on in his career Ryan has had to change his style of play a bit no longer can he pound up and down the wing but he still has the odd burst of pace and still has that balance and swagger, he doesn't play as often but still manages to create and score goals and play in a variety of positions he even played at left back a few seasons ago when we were short at the back. He has obviously looked after himself by not over indulging in what a lot of footballers have in the past and Yoga has played a big part in his fitness over the last 10 years.

So tomorrow at some point we believe that Ryan Giggs will play some part in the game against Norwich if he does it will be his 1000th senior appearance which in my view will never be beaten by a top flight footballer. Just another amazing stat to go with all the other records that this great modern day footballer has achieved and to put it in perspective there will be team mates of his on the field tomorrow that weren't even born when he made his debut back in 1991. But to the modest Ryan Giggs it will be just another game to him but to all the fans who have had the privilege to watch him over the last 20 odd years he has cemented his place as a Utd great if not the greatest.