What United means to me

Earlier this year during the seemingly never ending winter that continued well into March, we were informed that our 5-month-old daughter very likely had a sarcoma.  The doctors and medical staff were so sure of what the diagnosis would be that we were given the names of the two types of sarcoma in order to psychologically prepare ourselves for the worst.  Fortunately for us and Lindsay, they were all wrong and what looked like sarcoma was in fact a hemangioma with blood clots and spots that had calcified.

The two or so weeks surrounding that episode were easily the two worst I’ve had to endure.  The best part of each day lasted about five seconds, from the moment I woke up each morning until the time it took my brain to register that fact that life was very fucked.  Every other moment of every day was consumed by fear, anger, tears and worry.

Naturally at times like these one prioritizes and perhaps discovers (or re-discovers) what really matters in one’s life that helps put things into proper perspective; I was no different.

And yet through all of this I think I only missed one United match, an FA Cup match against Reading which was at the very beginning of our medical journey.  In the midst of the worst of everything I recall an upcoming match (this also against Reading but in the Premiership) and thinking to myself “I need United to win today just to have something positive”.  They beat Reading that day  1-0 in pretty unspectacular fashion, but for those two hours my mind was allowed to be distracted, where the main concern was “Are they going to hold on to this?” and not “What’s chemo going to do to my little girl’s brain?”.

There’s no doubt the dissatisfaction that was the loss to Real Madrid in Champions League was diffused by the acute awareness that this is just a game in which no lives are dependent (though arguably the ref’s may have been in a less civilized country, whose first name can be scrambled, or unscrambled you might say, to spell ‘Cuntey’).

But most of the time United is more than just a distraction, else how to explain the tears welling in my eyes two Sundays ago when Ferguson managed his last match at Old Trafford?   Or all the times I awoke at 6:30 in the morning in a Chicago winter and rode my bike two miles into a headwind blasting out of Wisconsin to watch a match with a handful of likeminded brethren?  Or the fact that just yesterday during a relatively meaningless match I told my son “I’m not listening to you, I’m watching the match”?

At the end of every season there’s always a void; it’s exactly the same feeling that my dad has when baseball season comes to an end.  It’s sort of like “What the fuck am I going to do with myself for the next two and a half months?”  Life undoubtedly goes on but it’s perhaps not as enjoyable while you wait for next season to begin.

But the end of this season is worse than normal because of the retirement of Ferguson, the only manager I and a whole lot of other fans have ever known.  There’s a big question mark hanging over next season.  And sure, I absolutely love watching the three weeks of the Tour de France, and I’ll watch the U.S. World Cup qualifiers (which is more of an obligation than an enjoyment), but it’s not the same.  There’s no jumping out of my seat and losing my voice when Andy Schleck wins a stage or when Mark Cavendish wins a sprint, or when the U.S. just barely manages to  hold on against some crap CONCACAF side.

And while I may not be as bad as the banner above, I can appreciate it, because when United are playing and I’m watching, there’s nothing for those two hours I’d rather be doing.

Reactions to a disappointing season for United

Congratulations to Manchester City and their fans for winning the premier league title yesterday.  As a Manchester United fan it stings a bit to have lost the title to City, but they played slightly better over the season, especially when it mattered most.

Just a little over a month ago United were 8 points clear and nobody would have doubted them winning the title from that position.  But lose it they did, dropping points to Wigan, Everton and City.

So where did it go wrong for United?  There are a couple of places to point to, but dropping all six points to City cost United the title.  Then there was the home loss to Blackburn (a team now relegated); the draw with Everton at home despite being up 4-2 with less than 10 minutes left; and being completely overwhelmed by Newcastle and Wigan (in both of these games United looked completely lost), teams that finished 5th and 15th respectively.

Injuries played a large and disruptive role in United’s disappointing performances throughout the season.  I remember telling a friend at the beginning of the season that it had been a while since I’d seen United play at such a high tempo.  Remember 8-2 against Arsenal and 3-0 against Tottenham (two top four finishing teams no less).  Then injuries to Cleverly, Anderson, Vidic and Fletcher hit and the team never really rebounded.  This was made no more obvious than by the team’s apathetic display in Europe this season, culminating in not progressing out of the group stage.  And really, not being able to beat Basel home or away is pretty poor  And then there was that 6-1 defeat to City at home.

Sure, this was a transitional year of sorts, with several veterans either retiring or being transferred at the end of last season.  But only the goalkeeping position was in any doubt at the beginning of the season, and despite some shaky performances at the start of the season, de Gea looks like a world-class keeper at the age of 21 who can only get better.  Asking him to fill van der Sar’s gloves was asking a lot, but that last-minute save against Chelsea in February kept United close enough to City to keep the pressure on as well as giving de Gea some much-needed confidence.

Other players worth mentioning for having good seasons are Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick and Jonny Evans (the red card against City notwithstanding).

Surely some players will leave this summer (Berbatov definitely, Park and Anderson are also likely as is Fabio on a loan deal), but there shouldn’t be too many leaving.

The positions in dire need of strengthening are left back, center back, central midfield and one more striker would be nice.  Why Fabio is heading out on a loan deal is anybody’s guess because Evra was shockingly bad at times yet seemed to be guaranteed in the starting 11.  Rio was pretty questionable as well.  Rafael, Phil Jones & Chris Smalling (and to a lesser extent Valencia) dealt with right back reasonably well, but Rafael should be first choice here.  He links well with Valencia and offers much more going forward than Jones (who to be honest, looks completely fucking lost most of the time.  I know he’ll be good, but for fuck’s sake, the guy drives me insane when he comes forward with the ball only to make the worst possible decision).

As for central midfield, United’s deficiencies have been known for years and yet nothing changes.  Maybe Cleverly is the answer  (if he can stay healthy) in tandem with Carrick.  But Giggs, Scholes and Park just don’t get the job done against energetic or quality sides.  I love Giggs and Scholes, but it’s time to say goodbye.  They can play well at times against lesser sides, but against quality sides they just don’t have the energy.

With Berbatov moving on there’s a definite need for another forward.  I felt horrible for the guy all season.  How do you go from being joint leader in goal scoring one season to not even making the bench the next?  Rooney did alright this season (not enough to justify his enormous wages if you ask me), but Hernandez and Welbeck are still too young to rely on every game.

The feeling at the end of this season is pretty much the same the year Chelsea won their first title under Abramovich’s ownership.  With tons of money City seem to be able to buy any player they want while vastly overpaying them.  But look at Chelsea now:  sure, they’re in the Champions League final, but if they don’t win next Saturday their 6th place finish (25 points, yes 25 points behind both City and United) in the league guarantees them a place in the Europa League next season.  Lack of development in youth and a revolving door approach when it comes to the coaching staff have not guaranteed them anything.

For all of United’s flaws this season, losing to City on the last day of the season on goal difference isn’t the worst thing in the world.  If you don’t believe me, just ask Liverpool fans how they feel right now.

The most disappointing thing was not being in a position to go far in the FA Cup or the Champions League and then pissing away an 8 point lead.  I got my hopes up yesterday when QPR were leading City, but I can’t say I was crushed, because to be honest, when City won on April 30, I’d already accepted they were going to be champions, and deservedly so.

Erin/United Update

So Erin doesn’t watch today’s match, and guess what?  United lose to Wigan!

She claims she’s not up to the task of being their good luck charm, but United are clearly in need of her watching eyes.

United’s good luck charm

Yesterday afternoon I watched the first roughly 80 minutes of the Blackburn/United match thinking United were destined for a 0-0 draw.  While that wouldn’t have been the worst result possible, getting all 3 points to move 5 points clear of City with just 7 matches remaining was the desired result.

Just a few minutes before Valencia’s spectacular goal, Erin had come home.  We were sitting on the floor playing with Nate when he thumped it home; not long after Ashley Young made it 2 to guarantee all 3 points for United.

Later in the evening after Nate was in bed, Erin and I were talking, and I told her that she had to watch at least some portion of United’s remaining 7 matches, since she clearly brings good luck when watching them.  I’m not sure she’s too keen on the idea, but what can she do?  If she doesn’t watch and United don’t go on to win their 20th title this season, I’ll probably blame her for it in some small and joking (ok, mostly joking) way.

At any rate, here’s to United winning the title at City’s ground on April 30; that would be just payback for the 6-1 thumping back in October at Old Trafford.

How Fox missed the boat and f*cked my Sunday morning up

A month or so ago a friend of mine asked me what I thought of Fox carrying some premiership games live.  I responded that I was pretty excited and thought it was a good thing.

The first live broadcast was today between Arsenal and Manchester United, and let me tell you, my initial excitement quickly faded to being pretty pissed off.  After weeks of advertising the match, why on earth was it preempted by paid programming and then by a baptist church service in the Raleigh/Durham area?  And then, when it does come on an hour and a half later (when the match is already over), it’s not in hi-def?  You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right?

Throughout the south it appears this was pretty much the norm (at least about the tape delay), based on comments I read over at SoccerbyIves.

For my part I e-mailed both my local Fox affiliate and Fox expressing my disappointment  about today’s broadcast and concern over future broadcasts (the next of which is between Chelsea and United on superbowl Sunday – yay, I can’t wait).  I’m also sending another e-mail to the local affiliate about how shitty it was to watch blurry figures moving across my tv because they couldn’t be bothered broadcasting in hi-def.

Anyway, thanks Fox for fucking it all up.  Would you please just broadcast these matches back on FoxSoccer now?  I’d greatly appreciate it, and I’m pretty sure there are a bunch of other people out there who feel the same.

Well, that sucked

Two years later and not much has changed.  Barcelona are still the better team and United had few, if any answers.  Every United fan could and probably will question Sir Alex’s tactics (no appearance from Fletcher, Berba not included in the squad), but let’s face it, Barca were simply better.

Just as in Rome our team started brightly, and just as in Rome after about 10 minutes Barca started pressing and dominating possession.  It took them longer to score their opening goal this time, but everyone could see it coming long before Pedro broke through.  At least this time United played well enough for the remainder of the half and even equalised through Rooney and Giggs.

But a minute or two into the second half and it was clear that United were outclassed.  For the last 45 minutes United were simply outplayed by a team who deserved the win.  No amount of substitutions was going to stem the tide.

This season wasn’t for nought though.  Winning the 19th title was always the prime goal and that was accomplished.  Now the focus can be turned to signing some new players this summer – hopefully some midfield players, and figuring a way to regain away form.

Now for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Bob Bradley’s strange (and possibly suicidal?) roster to divert my attention.

19/4?

Tomorrow represents the end of the European football season, with Manchester United meeting Barcelona at Wembley in the Champions League Final  (a rematch of the 2009 final where Barca won 2-0).

I won’t preview the match, as others have done a far better job than I could, so here are some links:  this podcast from Soccer Report Extra is quite good; Zonal Marking has lessons learned from the 2009 final here and here; and the BBC has a look at how United can beat Barca.

As a United fan I’m of course excited about tomorrow, just as I am that United won a record 19th title in the league (topping the record they had shared with Liverpool for nearly the past two years).  But what makes this season more enjoyable is that this is supposed to be a United team deficient in many areas, or so say their critics.  Whilst winning the 19th title was great, winning their fourth European Cup should entirely silence the critics.  Or maybe not.  Let them keep underestimating United.

King Eric interview

The NY Times has this interesting interview with Manchester United legend Eric Cantona.  Cantona recently joined the reborn NY Cosmos as director of soccer operations.  The Cosmos are currently an organization without a team but are striving to become the 20th (and hopefully last) MLS team.

Hopefully Cantona’s prediction of the US winning the World Cup in the next 20 years comes true (as well as his prediction that the Cosmos will provide most of those players).  At the very least his involvement with player development within the US improve in all areas on and off the field.

This weekend

When discussing plans for the weekend, Erin disclosed that she knew the day and time of United’s next match (tomorrow at 12:15 p.m.), so that way she didn’t have to ask if I was up for doing anything at that time.

I have to say I’m proud and impressed, and though I don’t necessarily subscribe to the following image, these are generally the three things that at any given moment matter most to me, sometimes all at once:

Mid-season (sort of) thoughts

I don’t write about United often enough to convey just how much of my life they actually consume.  I also venture a guess that every season following a World Cup is a topsy-turvy one, as the teams with the most talent have the players who are the most tired.

At any rate, the season is just over the halfway mark with 20 games now played.  The chant “We’re shit and we’re top of the league” that was sung this past Tuesday probably sums up most supporters’ feelings towards this season.  United miraculously remain unbeaten in the league though, and have been plenty lucky to avoid a few losses this season when a draw was eked out in the end (most memorably against Aston Villa).

Yet despite the lack of any real bite in performances, no other team looks remotely like challenging for the title.  City sit in second place and look just like the New York Yankees:  a bunch of overpriced, overhyped talent with gigantic egos who can’t get along.  Arsenal are in third and have yet to prove they can compete against men (beating Chelsea the other week doesn’t really count when Chelsea’s current form is taken into account).  Tottenham are in fourth but seem to lack the bite necessary to win.

And then there’s Chelsea.  What can be said that probably hasn’t been written by other United supporters?  Probably not much but I’l give it a shot: 

The defending champions sit in fifth place, lost yesterday to (at the time) the last place team in the league 1-0 on an own goal.  Going back to the beginning of November, they’ve played 11 league matches, have drawn four of them, lost a staggering five, and won only two.  They sit 9 points behind whilst United have a game in hand, not to mention that United have yet to play Chelsea, which should at this rate put further distance between them.  With any luck the Rent Boys will find themselves out of European competition even while Captain Douchebag Extradinoire John Terry still claims that they’re the most successful club in the premiership.  Look at the table dick!

But enough about the competition.

The players that have impressed the most this season are :

• Javier Hernandez – the guy just seems to find ways of scoring, even in limited playing time and mostly as a sub.  I wish he got more playing time over Wayne Rooney (more about him later).
• Anderson – looking more and more like Scholes’ long-term replacement.  Just last season it looked as if his time at the club had come to and end, but he’s put in some fantastic performances this season.
• Park – despite a slow start to the season he’s had a few game winning goals when it looked like another draw was in the cards, and he continues to work hard every match he plays.  Surely he’s been missed over the holiday period and it seemed to me that the matches against Birmingham and Stoke were matches where he could have made a big difference.  Not the most creative player, but sometimes that’s just not what’s needed.
• Raphael – he seems intent on making up for his red card against the Germans last Spring, and for me has done it.  He’s routinely shut down his side of the pitch, receives fewer and fewer yellow cards for stupid fouls, and has even started getting forward more frequently.  Clearly he’s first choice starting right back now, and that at just the age of 20.

Players that frequently impress but perplex me are:

• Berbatov - one match he scores five goals and the next he barely gets a touch.  A little consistency would be nice, though it has to be noted that he never complains or publically questions his role at the club.
• Nani - if he ever gets his head sorted out he’ll have successfully replaced Ronaldo.  His decision making is suspect at times and I could do without the “flair” that he brings when he goes to ground, though in that respect he’s got nothing on Ronaldo.  His assist count is up though, and his game winning goal against Stoke the other night was nothing short of brilliant.

Those who have failed to impress me are:

• Rooney – I’m in the camp of supporters who feel that he should have been let go.  I don’t get the mid-season pout over his contract, the threat to leave the club for City and the club then making him the highest paid player on the island.  His goal scoring drought has been unbearable to watch, his decision making terrible, his touch has left him, and he’s just not a red through and through for all the trouble and expense he brings.  He scored his first goal from open play this past Tuesday since March, but isn’t that what strikers get paid to do?
• Gary Neville – it’s hard to get on his case for all he’s done, but clearly his time is up.  Surely there’s a role at the club for Nev, but it’s no longer at right back.

All in all things are looking up.  Park will return soon enough from the Asian Cup, Scholes will hopefully return from injury, and Valencia’s miraculous recovery from a broken leg in September most likely means he’ll be back next month. 

Surely it’s a little premature to start celebrating the title now, with 18 matches to go, but there’s reason for optimism.