Friday, 20 March 09, 06:41 PM
The Ugly/Bad: I have grown up ridiculing the "Friday the 13th" belief, but after last week I think I might as well hop on the bizzare wagon of superstitionists. The week itself did not go on a high note. On Wednesday, the 11th, my dad's birthday (just mentioning), we (Man Utd) beat Inter Milan in a very grotesque manner, none of the free-flowing football but the odd goals out of nowhere. Then moving on to my personal life and the 13th, I feel start feeling the worst sort of pain in my stomach ever in my life and throw up a bunch of times, just for me to be rushed to the hospital the next morning for appendicitus, and to make things worse the Scousers beat us, at OLD TRAFFORD!!! It was not just a loss, but a loss to Liverpool and to make things worse it was 4-1 drubbing.
Well hopefully I get to put that week behind me, it was one of the longest weeks of my life, the recovery from surgery and the memories of getting scored on 4 times by LFC.
The Good: Moving on to better times, the draw today is almost picture perfect. Porto would have been my first pick followed with Villareal and then Arsenal; and by not getting myself to ahead of myself I could probably say that we are going through to the finals, though I would have loved it for Old Trafford to be the host of the second leg. The place turns into a monster on those beautiful European nights and would have made it close to impossible for the opponents to cope with the noise levels.
Looking at the other side of the draw, Chelsea vs Liverpool again! Bayern Munich vs Barcelona. I honestly have no predictions on the Chelsea vs Liverpool fixture, because Chelski under Guus is undefeated and playing some decent football and Liverpool is unpredictable as usual, even though everyone tends to agree that LFC are European performers. Meanwhile, Bayern vs Barcelona will be the most mouth-watering and intriguing match-up of the quarters. Two teams that love playing attacking minded football, but will have to sacrifice at the opponents ground in caution of the counter. I believe that Barcelona will prevail in that matchup.
This Champions League Draw is one that looks is made in heaven for Man Utd fans but the players have to deliver, first get out the revenge of 5 years ago on Porto and then unleash their fury of not being able to beat Villareal in the group stages or sweep Arsenal away with "Beautiful Football" and finally be able to meet(and hopefully beat) Liverpool in Rome. The Battle of the Reds in the greatest battle arena in mankind's history. Stick to your seat because you will view The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the great fervor that gets the footballing nation together. This is going to be one hell of a ride for the next three months.
P.S - I still believe in Man Utd lifting five trophies (not including the Community Shield)
Thursday, 12 March 09, 10:16 PM
Probably another quintuple talk, another Man Utd fan whose hopes are creeping up slowly to a whole new level,another article that would hopefully excite the footballing neutrals about the football being played by the Red Devils and have opponents'fans hate our beautiful club.
I don't know where to start and I want to keep this very brief and contribute on an idea which I don't believe anyone has really come across.
Yesterday we had an unconvincing win over Inter,which for the entire time had me thinking we would throw away the game. Personally, despite watching us play one of our worst games of the season(probably in the top 7 worst games of the season)we topped an Inter team that has been the top of the lot in Italy. Just goes about to show character that has been built in the locker room, if it wasnt for the skill yesterday, there was no shortage of intensity or energy by the players. Wayne Rooney as usual tracked back all the way to the goaline, and also earning the occasional yellow card. So comparing this game to the one on Saturday against Fulham, which was one played with great skill and ease, goals flying in from just about everywhere and displays of the uncanny passing and movement that everyone is used to see from Man Utd. This comparison adds an extra strong reasoning to the already obvious talent, depth, hunger of the team.
This is a team that will adapt to the situation, be a good day they will rub salt into the wounds of other teams; be a bad day, they will dig deep with their feet to cover every single blade of grass to make up for the lack of skill. This is a team that will go down in club football's history as one of the greatest maybe the greatest, and to add that accomplishment would be the statement of the ever-switching rotation policy with no player guaranteed to start next game.
So come this Saturday, when I will get up at 4 45 to watch the game against Liverpool on the Pacific Coast, I know that we will be taking a step closer to the Quintuple, towards history, because it won't matter if Man Utd is having an off day or not, they will inevitabily bring themselves closer to the DREAM LAND
On The Inevitability of history