Terrace Talk

The recent articles about Aaron Ramsey were pointing to United as favorites for signing him. Last week, Cardiff manager Dave Jones spoke in favor of United, saying that a transfer to United would be a perfect foundation for a bright future

“United are the major force in European football, if not the best club in the world, and with the squad of players they have that domination is set to continue for some time to come. I believe Aaron can go there and play a valuable part in that in the future.”

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 »

PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images

There are thousands of factors that decide a Champion and while it is still the middle of April and there are plenty of games still to play, Sir Alex Ferguson will be counting on experience above all else, to reach United’s goals. Whether this week brings tears or accolades, will be strictly decided by experience over step-overs, and intelligence over brute force.

Barstool pundits from Lisbon to Moscow have focused on the sparkle of United’s talents in their predictive hypothesizing that Manchester United will be triumphant domestically as well as in Europe. Few have decided to take stock, and question how well United have played relative to the 2007 campaign and by it’s very virtue, how much more impressive United’s 1999 season was.
Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday afternoon, Manchester United made the trip to Ewood Park to take on United legend Mark Hughes’ ever-improving Rovers. With Chelsea collecting all three points from their game in hand at Goodison Park, a win for Fergie’s latest crop of players became increasingly important. Blackburn of course were still pushing for a European place, and Sparky wouldn’t stand to have his men lie down quietly in light of this.

Having dispatched Arsenal last week after going a goal behind to Adebayor’s best impression of ‘La mano de Dios’, United exhumed that air of invincibility they so often possess during ’squeaky-bum time’. Surely it would be a difficult but fairly routine win. Step forward Brad Friedel.
Read the rest of this entry »

On April 6th, 1998, Manchester United went into the away match of the season against Roy Hodgson’s inform Blackburn Rovers needing a win to keep pace to retain their title. Having been thrashed earlier in the season, the story was all about the ensuing revenge that the Rovers were looking to get on their neighboring rivals. It was a high paced, intense contest. The battle laid in the midfield and United were second best in the first half. A Chris Sutton penalty may have been the only difference at half-time, but there was no doubt who the better team was.

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 »

United seem to love playing Aston Villa, whether at Villa Park or at home. It has been over 12 years since Villa has beaten United, a streak that stretches over 21 encounters, with 13 straight victories. With Villa also winless in their last four league games, all signs point to another United victory. However, it might not be so easy….

Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2004 the upsurge in United’s fortunes has been founded on defensive solidity centered around Rio Ferdinand. Only allowing 5 league goals at Old Trafford this season testifies to his importance in the current campaign and further underlines his importance to United’s retention of the Premiership trophy. His absence tomorrow would be a massive blow to United and will play a major part in not only the way the punters place their bets, but in the confidence level of each team moving forward.
Read the rest of this entry »

After a crushing victory over the Magpies in January, the Red Devils started the game convinced that they could repeat that amazing result. Earlier in the day the Gunners were held to a draw after a late equalizer by James McFadden at St. Andrew’s Stadium. The fact that Arsenal slipped was most likely the boost of confidence the Reds needed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Carrick’s recent form had me thinking that SIr Alex Ferguson might not have made a mistake signing him afterall. I have even begun to like him. In particular, his assist on Nani’s goal on Saturday was pure class, and has turned me from one of his detractors, to a solid supporter. But I’ll return to this later.

Read the rest of this entry »