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Fulham 0-5 Man United. A fixture to re-ignite Man United’s season?

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Man United’s visit to Craven Cottage could be one of those games we look back on, as a turning point in the Barclays Premier League season. It is noteworthy that while United have managed to pick up victories, they have struggled to score goals following Sir Alex Ferguson’s recent insistence on “shoring up the back.” A few will point to United’s 4-1 mauling of Wolves as an even earlier sign of improvement, but that particular victory was claimed at home, and United were fueled by the frustrations of being dumped out of the UEFA Champions League in the group stages. The win away to Fulham however, was purely an indication of a top team finding form and whose top players were once again showing their class.

The match began with a bang for United. Nani escaped down the left wing and after running a full 50 yards, squared for the every improving Danny Welbeck to tuck home the opener. On 28 minutes, Nani himself got on the scoresheet when he scored a rare header, assisted by a fabulous cross from the evergreen Ryan Giggs. Two minutes before the break, Nani returned the favor, setting up Giggs to score for a record 20 consecutive Premier League seasons, his deflected drive looping over a stranded David Stockdale.

In the second half, Fulham attacked with more purpose as United took their foot off the gas. The Cottagers fashioned some decent scoring opportunities but they were extremely wasteful. As the match wound down with Man United in firm control, Wayne Rooney and second half substitute Dimitar Berbatov rubbed salt into the wound. Rooney scored a swerving pile driver from 25 yards out in the 88th minute and two minutes later, Berbatov netted with an audacious backheel following a cross from Antonio Valencia. The only sour notes for United were the two injuries picked up by Phil Jones and Ashley Young. Jones is expected to be back for the visit of Wigan in the following match, but Young coud be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Strong Performances vs Wolves and QPR raises Man United confidence for Christmas Fixtures

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After limping out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Basle, Manchester United has responded in fine style at in the Barclays Premier League. There was always a feeling that United would seek to vent their European frustrations as soon as possible and even Sir Alex Ferguson was calling for a three or four goal victory to lift the gloom in Manchester. So facing a struggling Wolves side at Old Trafford was exactly the type of fixture that Man United was looking for.

United started very brightly and went ahead in the 17th minute after Nani cut inside from the left wing and powered a low shot past Wayne Hennessey. Ten minutes later, Rooney collected a pass from Nani, turned and drilled in his 10th goal in the league from the edge of the box. Two minutes after the break, Steven Fletcher scored a superb header to reduce the deficit but additional goals from Nani and Rooney respectively, helped to settle matters on the night, and raise the spirits of the club after recent disappointments.

The Man United victory, coupled with Chelsea’s victory over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Monday saw City’s lead cut to a paltry two points. United went into their match away to Queens Park Rangers knowing that they would go top with a victory and pile the pressure on City ahead of their match versus a resurgent Arsenal. It took only 52 seconds for Wayne Rooney to head in an inviting cross from Antonio Valencia and Man United in control. With the pressure off, United played with the type of composure and zest that characterized their early season play. Quick one-twos and combination plays were used to open up the QPR defense almost at will, but wasteful finishing kept the home team in the tie. On 56 minutes, Michael Carrick picked up a loose ball from Joey Barton inside the United half, drove past two QPR defenders and sprinted a full 65 yards before sliding the ball past goalkeeper Radek Cerny. The goal ended a 70 game goal scoring drought got the talented English midfielder. With the result no longer in doubt, the Man United players took their foot off the gas and controlled the rest of the game, conserving energy for the glut of Christmas fixtures to come. Even Sir Alex Ferguson had to admit that it was a job well done.

Basel Shock Manchester United in Champions League fixture

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There were no smiles as Manchester United players left Switzerland on Wednesday night. No autographs were signed, no interviews were given. Such was the shock of the 2-1 loss to Basel that Man United fans, manager and players alike could scarcely believe what had just transpired. Going into the final round of group matches, Basel had to win to qualify for the second phase of the UEFA Champions League while English champions Man United needed merely to draw to secure progress to the knock out rounds. Everyone was convinced that Manchester United would romp to a victory; the only concern was whether United could pip an impressive Benfica side to the top spot. Everyone expected a Man United win in this fixture. And everyone was wrong.

The match could not have started worse for Manchester United as Basel raced into a surprise early lead. Vidic and Smalling got themselves into a tangle and when the loose ball broke kindly for young phenom Xherdan Shaqiri, he drilled it across the box; simply terrible piece of goalkeeping from young Spanish stopper David de Gea allowed Marco Streller to volley home. Faced with that setback United pressed ahead for an equalizer and though they enjoyed much possession and created a few chances, the opportunities were not taken. Park Ji Sung, Wayne Rooney and Nani were the main culprits and the clinical finishing of Javier Chicharito Hernandez was keenly missed. The second half saw Basel take the match to Man United. Shaqiri was a constant thorn in the side of the United defence and repeatedly pushed the Red Devils back when he picked up the ball in the midfield.

With time running out and Man United pouring forward, Basel caught Man United with the classic sucker punch. Shaqiri again provided the assist, swinging over a delightful cross to the back post which Alexander Frei gleefully nodded home. Man United did score a late consolation courtesy of Phil Jones, but it was a case of too little, too late and the small Swiss team sent the English giants crashing out of the Champions League on the night. The final result read Basel 2-1 Man United. A match that will live long in the memory of football fans worldwide.

Scoring dries up in Man United fixtures.

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1-0 to the Arsenal was a popular refrain by Gunners fans from the old George Graham era. It seems 1-0 to United might be this modern day adaptation of that chant. Despite starting the season in blistering goal scoring form, Man United has managed only one goal in each of their last 7 premier league fixtures. Much has been made of the possible psychological impact the 1-6 drubbing Man United received at the hands of Man City, but the signs of United’s offensive struggles were seen even before that horrendous night at Old Trafford.

While still putting in sparkling performances, Wayne Rooney is nonetheless in a goal scoring drought. It is now nine games since he last found the back of the net and recurring injuries to preferred partners Javier Chicharito Hernandez and Danny Welbeck has not helped the cause. Even the much maligned Dimitar Berbatov is now out injured. The once heralded Federico Macheda has so far failed to live up to Sir Alex Ferguson’s high expectations and Rooney will have to step up his game if he is to drag Man United through the next few fixtures.

Lack of creativity has been another reason for the Red Devils’ dip in form. Injuries to Tom Cleverley, Michael Carrick and Anderson had forced Rooney to play in the middle of the park as opposed to his more usual forward role. But with Carrick now back and Giggs looking match fit, Rooney will likely have one less responsibility on his shoulders. With even the likes of Darron Gibson managing to make the bench in the last few matches, one would have to think Fergie might be tempted to splash some cash for a creative central midfielder come January.

The upcoming Man United fixtures could well define the rest of the season at Old Trafford. A crucial game away to Basel might see them top their UEFA Champions League group, finish second, or crash out altogether. And with Man City playing Chelsea in the next round of Premier League fixtures, United cannot afford to drop points. Man United are still managing to pick up the points but with every match the goals seem harder and harder to come by.

Young Reserves Fail in Man United Carling Cup Fixture

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When Sir Alex Ferguson marched his young team out at Old Trafford, to face Crystal Palace in the quarter final of the Carling Cup he would have been brimming with confidence. Of course the team was shorn of the likes of Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic and Javier Chicharito Hernandez, but it did boast many promising young prospects and fringe players eager to impress the wily old Scotsman. With each player given a chance to play his way into Sir Alex Ferguson’s plans for future Man United fixtures, much was at stake for the men selected. It is therefore quite understandable when Fergie looked on in shock and amazement as Man United simply failed to turn up.

Much has been made of the young center midfielders Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison, but on a night when United needed strength in a tackle or a spark of creative genius, both failed to provide either. The Da Silva twins continue to be a source of frustration as well. The little Brazilians attack well enough but are constantly caught out of position on the defensive end, which often results in their being force to make rash challenges. And if their “defending” was not irritating enough, they continue to show an unhealthy attraction for the injury room. Both twins went off with knocks and it is a telltale sign that the Man United defending improved dramatically with their departure.

The goals which downed the Red Devils came from two Crystal Palace substitutes – Darren Ambrose and Glenn Murray. Ambrose scored a screamer from fully 35 yards that Ben Amos could do nothing about. Man United found an equalizer from Federico Macheda as he tucked away a penalty to send the match into extra time. More drama awaited the home crowd however as Glenn Murray scored the winner goal from what appeared to be an offside position. Even facing elimination, the Man United players could not lift themselves and continued to struggle to open up a stubborn Palace defense. It was the type of fixture to make Man United fans groan in frustration as the team seemingly went down and out, without even a fight.

Preview for Man United Fixtures (H) Newcastle, (A) Basel, (A) Aston Villa

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Manchester United v Newcastle

Ever since the 1-6 hiding that United received at the hands of Manchester City, the Man United players have demonstrated a renewed resolve to defend properly. In the league they have followed up the loss with a run of three consecutive victories and three consecutive clean sheets in the next three fixtures, beating Everton away, Sunderland at home, and Swansea away by 1-0 victories. With high flying Newcastle to come today, the defending premier league champions might find the going tough. Newcastle has been very impressive this season and Man United will have to pay close attention to the likes of goal machine Demba Ba as well as the Magpies’ workhorse midfield of Cheick Tiote and Yohan Cabaye. At the back Newcastle boast one of the most impressive defenses in the entire league, but the pundits still fancy Man United to come out victorious in this fixture.

Prediction: Manchester United 4-0 Newcastle United

Aston Villa v Manchester United

Aston Villa started the season in fine form under new manager Alex Mcleish. They were unbeaten in their first 7 Premier League matches, but have started to become unstuck of late. New signing Charles N’zogbia, a 9.5 million pound acquisition from Wigan, has yet to live up to the hype and has yet to find form. One player who is always on a hot streak however, is ace marksman Darren Bent and Man United will have to keep a close eye on him. Bent does not do much in terms of creating goalscoring opportunities for himself, nor does he often fashion chances for his teammates, but he is a born predator and rarely misses when given sight of goal. Man United will be thankful for the return of their fine defensive form and will count on the experience of captain Nemanja Vidic to see them through if they are to earn a tough away victory.

Prediction: Aston Villa 1-3 Manchester United.

Basel v Manchester United

It has been many a year since Manchester United’s final fixture in the UEFA Champions League group stages carried so much importance. Such is the tightness of the standings that any of three teams might still top the group. Benfica is already assured of their spot in the second round after snatching an impressive 2-2 away at Old Trafford to go into the final fixtures on 9 points, the same as Man United, but ahead in the table due to head-to-head record. Basel finds themselves in third position on 8 points so all is left to play for. The Swiss champions have already proven that they are not to be taken lightly after already drawing 3-3 at Old Trafford. Alexander and Fabian Frei have proved to be a menace to the Man United defence, while the hold-up play and power of Streller is a challenge for any Man United defender. Man United are expected to get an away victory but as previous fixtures have shown, nothing can be taken for granted.

Prediction: Basel 0-2 Manchester United

Benfica prove to be the toughest of Man United’s fixtures in the UEFA Champions League.

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When the draw was made for the group stage of the Champions League, few people would have thought that Manchester United would finish anywhere except at the top of the pile. Group C saw the Red Devils bracketed with Portuguese powerhouse Benfica, Swiss champions Basel and newcomers Otelul Galati from Romania. Yet such was the perceived disparity in class between the English champions and the rest of the pack that everyone believed it would be business as usual for Man United in these fixtures.

However, the match is played on the pitch, not on paper as they say. Man United learned the truthfulness of those words when their fixtures proved to be far from easy. In their first match, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men played away to Benfica. This fixture was always imagined to be the toughest of all Man United’s matches and so it was. The Red Devils fell behind in the match due to some expert forward play by Oscar Cardozo, but despite a strong display from Benfica in the middle of the park, Man United managed to snatch an equalizer through the evergreen Welsh wing wizard Ryan Giggs.

Man United’s second match, this time at home to Basel also finished in a draw but was infinitely more disappointing that the first fixture. Man United went 2-0 up through a quick fire brace from Danny Welbeck and maintained the two goal lead for the first half. Despite the lead, Basel had wasted no less than three glorious chances to score in the first 45 minutes and could count themselves unlucky not to have gotten at least one goal for all their efforts. In the second half, Basel’s finishing became much more clinical. Fabian Frei pulled a goal back on 58 minutes and just two minutes later, Alexander Frei (no relation to Fabian) brought Basel level. However there was much more drama to come. On 76 minutes Antonio Valencia, playing out of position at right back, brought down Streller in the area and Alexander Frei stepped up to score his second and Basel’s third of the match. Shocked Man United supporters looked on in disbelief. It was left to new signing Ashley Young to score an injury time equalizer and spare Man United’s blushes in this fixture.
With back to back fixtures against Otelul Galati, the supposed whipping boys of the group Man United were expected to pick up all six points. While Sir Alex Ferguson’s men did manage to win both games, it was far from easy. Playing for pride, the Romanians put Man United under sustained pressure during both fixtures before eventually succumbing to a 2-0 loss to the Red Devils at home and away.

With qualification still on the line, Man United hosted Benfica for their fifth fixture in this season’s UEFA Champions League. Man United got off to the worst possible start by conceding an own goal via Phil Jones, but goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Fletcher put Man United 2-1 up during the second half. However a poor clearance from new goalkeeper David de Gea saw Pablo Aimar rifle home and put Benfica ahead of Man United in the standings. Both teams have nine points, but Benfica are top due to a better head to head record. With Basel beating Galati and moving onto eight points themselves, there is everything left for Man United to play for in the final round of fixtures.

Man United Fixtures Between November 2011 and January 2012 an easy ride.

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Many pundits and fans alike were somewhat taken aback when this season’s premier league fixtures were released in the summer. The selection system which arranges all the Barclays Premier League fixtures for Manchester United and all the other teams in the league usually gives the top clubs and easy introduction to the season with fixtures becoming increasingly difficult as the matches progress and the teams become more settled. Not this year however.

Defending champions Manchester United were shocked to find that they played all five title rivals in the first 10 matches. Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City would all be faced before November and as a consequence, all thoughts of an easy welcome to the new season were thrown out of the window. But such has been Man United’s preseason preparation that they were able to win three of these 5 matches, drawing one versus Liverpool before losing heavily to Man City. At present the Red Devils find themselves in second place in the table, five points below Manchester City. But with City yet to play Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea there is a strong belief that Man United will return to the top of the table sooner rather than later.

There is a long stretch of easy fixtures on the horizon for Man United while Man City’s fixtures only get more and more challenging. With most of the remaining title contenders yet to face each other, Man United can relax and bit and wait patiently for sparks to ply and points to drop. Injuries have also begun affecting the Red Devils though Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have coped admirably and have used their squad to the full. Arsenal have also been hampered a bit by injury but high flying Man City has this inevitable obstacle yet to come. It will be interesting to see how they deal with such problems, especially if the transfer window is not open at the time. It has been an exciting beginning to the Barclays Premier League race this season. With no less than seven teams vying for the title and Champions League places, including surprise package Newcastle, each weekend will feel like a cup tie. No one can afford to lose their fixtures, but of course, come May there can only be one winner.

Can Man United overcome Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League fixtures?

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Man United has become something of a fixture in the UEFA Champions league final it seems. The English club has graced three of the last four finals but even so, its achievements have been overshadowed by the mighty Barcelona. Twice have the Catalan giants toppled United and left them utterly bemused by their ever flowing, quick possession tiki taka football. Possession is key for Barcelona. The opposition cannot score if you have the ball, and if you do, then the possibilities of what you can do are endless.

Andres Iniesta once remarked about the training he received at Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy – receive, pass, offer…receive, pass, offer. At La Masia the young players do everything together, learning each other’s strengths, weaknesses and habits. That familiarity which is bred from years of socializing and living together transmits itself clearly on the field. It has often been said that Iniesta and Xavi are telepathic, continuously linking up and passing the ball between each other on the pitch as if they were on a playground. It is this central midfield combination in particular which has so far proven to be the bane of Manchester United. Once they have the ball, it is nigh on impossible to take it off them, so well do they use their bodies to shield the ball and when they do pass, they passes are crisp, quick and direct.

As if their possession game was not enough, the Barcelona players also possess the skill needed to beat players in one on one situations. Iniesta, Pedro and David Villa can all turn on a dime in order to lose a defender, though they all pale in comparison to the little Argentine genius that is Lionel Messi. Messi is widely regarded as one of the greatest, if not already the greatest football player of all time. Small, quick and agile, his low center of gravity often sees him making cuts and turns that leave bigger defenders flailing. He also boasts a brilliant footballing brain, an eye for goal and can read the game extremely well. With so many weapons to call upon it looks a hard task for Man United to triumph in this fixture, especially against the so called golden generation of Catalonia. The game is played on the pitch however, and stranger things have happened before.

The Least Valuable Player in the Man United Fixtures to date

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Considering Man United’s rampant start to the season and the way the team has swept aside its rivals in the early fixtures, it is something of a challenge to pick out any players who are clearly underperforming. In the first few games the Red Devils attacked with reckless abandon, scoring goals for fun as the notched up 21 strikes in their first 5 matches. Notable during this period however, was the ease with which the opposition was able to create decent scoring opportunities for themselves.

This lack of attention to defending was seemingly overlooked as the Man United strike force was in fine form and sweeping all before them. Soon though, the champions entered a set of fixtures which saw them struggle to score and fail to win in three consecutive matches. Man United drew away to Stoke, away to Liverpool and were decimated 1-6 at home by eternal rivals Manchester City. It was that loss which saw Sir Alex Fergusion refocus his team’s attention to defending, after which Man United were able to grind out two 1-0 victories away to Everton and at home to Sunderland.

The consistently poor defending this season is due in part to the constant reshuffling that Sir Alex Ferguson is forced to do as a consequence of injuries, loss of form and tiredness. There is also the issue of the young Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea who needed time to settle into his new life at Old Trafford. While de Gea had his critics early on, it was another youngster who, though he performed admirably for most matches, always seemed prone to the odd mistake.

Jonny Evans has had a mixed season so far. His reading of the game, his distribution and his ability to quickly change defense into attack have been eye catching. However he still lacks the defensive solidity and reliability of the classic Man United center backs. It was Jonny Evans who conceded a penalty at home to Arsenal this season, Jonny Evans who was caught napping as Fernando Torres scored a consolation for Chelsea at Old Trafford and Jonny Evans who was ruthlessly discarded as Balotelli scored the first of his two goals, before Evans was sent off as the last man in the Manchester massacre. The lad has a strong personality however, and with time and a few more pounds, he will improve.