Terrace Talk

The arrival of Dimitar Berbatov has strengthened our attacking force, but could this move be the catalyst for Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure?

As you have noticed, last season, due to the lack of a striking options, Ronaldo was more of a striker than a winger. By the end of the season I got used to seeing our 4-4-2 formation turn into a 4-3-2-1, with Wayne Rooney on the left, Carlos Tevez on the right and Ronaldo moving up-front. Read the rest of this entry »

Inspired by ESPN page 2 columnist Bill Simmons (One of my favourite sports writers, although he gets minus marks for selecting Tottenham Hotspurs as his EPL club and calling Manchester United the “New York Yankees” of the EPL), Terrace Talk will debut a weekly segment of “TT Link Me”.

With so much information being tossed around during a 24 hour news cycle, at times it can become extremely difficult catching every quality article, video or news. Thats where you come in.
Read the rest of this entry »

“He scores with his left
He scores with his right
That boy Ronaldo
Makes England look shite”

Ladies and gentlemen I proudly present you the EPL Goal of the season: Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick against Portsmouth.

The month of March provided some sparkling football from Manchester United. The team won six of seven matches, including key victories against Lyon in Champions League and Liverpool in the English Premier League. Both results ensured that United can continue in there pursuit for both major titles.

Player of the Month is tabulated through a two step process. The first step is through nomination. This is done in order from the first player to the third player nominated for each match that United plays for the month. For each match, a point system from three points to one point is assigned to the first player nominated, down to the third player nominated (nominee 1 – 3 pts, nominee 2 – 2 pts, nominee 3 – 1 pt).

Depending on the number of matches per week, each match thread is opened for a period of 3-5 days for nominations. Afterwards, a poll is opened for voting of the top 3 nominees for a period of one week. This allows members to catch the match live or on replay to allow them sufficient time to carefully weigh in on there selections for nominations and final poll voting.

It is very important that United Zone Football Forum members not only weigh in and nominate players, but also make sure to vote.

Fourteen goals were scored and fine individual performances made nominations and voting for this months Player of The Month a real challenge.

Read the rest of this entry »

On a warm European evening, Manchester United did just enough to grind out a 2-0 victory over hosts AS Roma at Il Stadio Olimpico. It certainly wasn’t the beautiful football United fans have come to expect from their side, but the result did just enough to put a firm foot in the door for qualification into the Champions League semi finals.

It was clear from the onset of the match that Sir Alex Ferguson and his coaching staff were fully intent on trying to beat Roma at their own game. United fielded a side which did not feature a clear striker and essentially would require their players to push into advanced attacking roles and then interchange up front in the forward position. AS Roma’s manager, Luciano Spalletti, has refined a similar 4-6-0 tactic over the years with great success, winning the Italian Cup last season, and his club currently sit in 2nd position in Serie A. Without a traditional striker up front, Roma play with numerous attacking players that interchange, stretching the defense and forcing defensive mistakes through variety in attack. It is a very open and attacking style of football which is quite wonderful to watch when all goes as planned. Sir Alex has used a variation of this tactical formation to achieve great success in the last few seasons, culminating in the absolute decimation of Aston Villa over the weekend.

Read the rest of this entry »

I had just walked into the pub about a half hour before United faced Villa looking for a solid omelette and a spot of tea before I went into my pints of Sam Adams. As I went through the door a mate of mine immediately commented on how Arsenal had come back to draw with Bolton. I replied with a quick “Doesn’t matter, they were done last week.” Of course my arrogance was quickly slammed into my face by the Arsenal stool barons next to me minutes later. While party lines were drawn, allegiances made, and bets placed all of this was forgotten for the next two hours, as United with Ronaldo at the helm took over. Every fan in the bar, from the plane Mexican bringing clean glasses, to the staunch Arsenal loyalists could not help but feel grateful that they had had a chance to watch the master class put on display, cleansing our Premiership palette like a smooth glass of wine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Absolutely brilliant is the only way to label this United performance. In fact, absolutely brilliant is the only way to characterize Cristiano Ronaldo. From top to bottom, United dominated Aston Villa and did more than they needed to, to deserve the three points. They had just watched Arsenal take a late victory from Bolton and knew they had to put in the work to hold on to their lead. As a fan, this will not be a game forgotten, with Ronaldo playing out of his skin and slowly solidifying my argument that he has already reached legendary status in a red shirt.

Read the rest of this entry »