Season end!

Well the relegation dogfight in the Barclay's Premier League certainly threw up the surprises and excitement it was supposed to. Unfortunately, Newcastle United with their amazing fan following and rich history have been relegated to the Championship along with Middlesborough and West Bromwich Albion. Hull City and Newcastle's neighbours Sunderland, both managed to maintain their Premiership status even though they both lost on the last day of 2009 Premiership action.

As I expected a very 'weakened' Manchester United team went to KC Stadium and racked up a 1-0 win over Hull. As Newcastle United manager Alan Shearer had said earlier, 'Any team of Mancheter United that goes to Hull will get a win'... So it prooved with Darron Gibson securing three points for the champions with a blinding strike mid-way through the first half. This meant Newcastle United only required a draw at Aston Villa to stay up and yet could not manage this as they had no reply to a Gareth Barry strike at Villa Park.

Middlesborough's fate was pretty much sealed before the final round of matches and they would have required a sporting miracle to stay up. Yet they put up a valiant display and still lost to Gianfranco Zola's West Ham side at Upton Park by 2 goals to 1. Sunderland put up a fight in what was coach Ricky Sbragia's last match in charge and went down 3-2 to Chelsea. Manager Niall Quinn should now try and look for a big name replacement for Sbragia to take this team forward next year.

So another season of Premiership football is over and now all eyes turn to Rome and the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona on the 27th. Come on you Reds!...

Final day mircales again?

The 2008-09 Barclays Premier League season is coming to an end. Yet another entertaining and hard fought season has seen Manchester United trump for a 3rd straight year and hold off age old rivals Liverpool and the more recent challenger in Chelsea. The Mersysiders put up a season long championship winning effort for the first time in almost 20 years.

These two North-West English giants have had a historic rivalry that has with this triumph of Man United seen both clubs rack up 18 top flight championships. The Mancunians and Scousers alike would love nothing better than to see their clubs go ahead of the other in Championships' count next year! But while things are done and dusted at the top of the table, the relegation battle is anything but. Heading into the last week, only West Bromwich Albion (31 pts) are mathematically relegated. One of the closest and most competitive seasons ever in the BPL has resulted in Middlesborough (32 pts), Newcastle United (34 pts), Hull City (35 pts) and Sunderland (36 pts) all fighting to stay in the top flight of English football for another season on the last matchday.

Sunderland could have secured their Premiership status yesterday night at a relegation dogfight at Portsmouth but squandered a 1-0 lead thanks to some horrific defending and crashed to a 3-1 defeat. Now they have to win at home against a Chelsea side who have shown phenomenal away form all season, as they emphatically reminded everyone with a 4-1 thumping of Arsenal at the Emirates in their last BPL away game. A draw for Ricky Sbragia's men would mean that wins by both Hull and Newcastle would see Sunderland relegated alongwith Gareth Southgate's Middlesborough.



Similar emotions - Ricky Sbragia (left) and Alan Shearer (right)

Newcastle United have displayed a lot of grit and determination ever since Toonside legend Alan Shearer took over as manager a few weeks back. This new found 'backbone' in performance has not exactly seen the ideal results in terms of wins for the Magpies. Yet on a last day trip to a recently faltering and patchy Aston Villa, I would expect a team boasting the skill and experience of Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Obafemi Martins, Damien Duff, Alan Smith, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and Nicky Butt among others, to pick up a vital victory. Even though they find themselves in the last relegation spot at the moment, the one thing they have going for themselves is a better goal difference to their opponents. If Hull and Sunderland both win then this counts for nothing. But if Sunderland draw and Newcastle win then this plays a huge role because as things would then stand, both these teams would be locked on 37 points with Newcastle above Sunderland because of GD. As already mentioned, that, combined with a Hull City win over Manchester United would mean that Sunderland would be relegated.

Manchester United have nothing to gain from their first ever trip to the Kingston Communications Stadium. They have wrapped up the championship. Plus there is a little matter of a Champions League Final to look to in 3 days time. You could forgive Sir Alex Ferguson to rest all his stars for this match as I am sure he will do. Theoretically this should give Phil Brown's Hull (the picture shows Brown's infamous on the pitch half-time dressdown of his wards in the match against Man City) a chance for what would be in other circumstances an upset. However, I do not believe this will happen. For one thing, Sir Alex has always been one to ensure he plays a strong enough team in such circumstances and not be blamed for taking the relegation battle lightly. The last day game against West Ham in the 2007 season with an FA Cup final against Chelsea coming up is a very similar situation. Ferguson did play a strong team that day which included the likes of Rooney, Smith, Fletcher, Solskjaer and Van Der Sar. Yet at the same time I do not expect Ferguson to play Rooney, Ronaldo and his other stars on Sunday either. The difference between 2007 and now is the amazing squad depth that United have.

The Man Utd squad on Sunday should be pretty much like the squad Sir Alex put out against Everton in the FA Cup semi. A young, attacking squad that only lost on penalties to an Everton squad that is sure of European football next year! This side that should consist of Darren Fletcher, Kiko Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Darron Gibson, Rafael and Fabio Da Silva, Ben Foster and others should be enough to beat Hull.



Vociferous managers - Shearer (Left) and Southgate (right) - but how much can manager's actually do if the players don't perform?

Middlesborough are the side least likely to escape relegation as they would need a convincing win at West Ham and other results to go their way in order to beat the drop. Taking their current form into account this seems hardly likely. Southgate's men need Hull and Newcastle to loose their games first. Their GD stands at -28. Hull's is -24. Newcastle is on -18. A loss for both these teams would mean Hull stays at 35 pts and Newcastle at 34. 'Borough would go up to 35 points with a win. Then they have to overcome a 4 goal difference over Hull. Basically if Hull loose by a single goal to United then the Riverside club would have to win by at least 4 goals to save themselves. If United runs rampant at the KC stadium things might look a bit more probable. If Newcastle draw then Middlesborough would have to win by a nigh impossible 11 goal margin! It is safe to say that if Shearer's men manage any sort of result at Villa then 'Borough are doomed.

But last day miracles can happen... They always have! If anything is certain it is that May 24 is gonna be an action packed day fitting for a remarkable season!

Predictions:

Sunderland vs Chelsea: 1 - 2
Hull vs Manchester United: 0 - 2
Aston Villa vs Newcastle: 1 - 1
West Ham vs Middlesborough: 1 - 0

: Sunderland and Newcastle to beat the drop.
: Hull, Middlesborough and West Brom to be relegated.
: Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa - top 6.
: Fulham to get the last Europa League spot over Tottenham.

Champions again!

1 point more... and i point is what we got yesterday night against Arsenal at Old Trafford... A 0-0 draw it might have been... yet it served the purpose because now with being 7 points ahead of Liverpool and just 2 games to go for them... Manchester United are the champions of England for the 3rd straight time and the 18th time overall!... Glory, Glory, Man United!

To all the Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea fans I've had fights with over the last few years - At the end of it all its the results that matter and the results speak for themselves! 3 BPL titles in the last three years. Reigning European Champions. Reigning World Champions. Add the Carling Cup to that and the Community shield for good measure! It all points to this 1 term - CHAMPIONS!



The BPL trophy remains where it deserves to be!



Superhuman effort - 11 championships... Ryan Giggs!



But amidst all the celebrations... Could this be a final pat on the back... a goodbye if you will? - Carlos Tevez!

And 1 point more...

With the derby against Manchester City emphatically taken care off as well as the trip down to the JJB Stadium, Manchester United need 1 point from their remaining two games to win the Premier league for the 11th time and the English First Division championship for the 18th time, equaling the record of rivals Liverpool in the process.

A convincing 2-0 win over City on Sunday and a come from behind 2-1 win against Steve Bruce's Wigan on Wednesday night, mean that United could be champions on Saturday with at least a draw against Arsenal at Old Trafford. If they were to achieve this it will only be the second time in all of their 11 BPL championships when they have won the league playing in front of their home fans. The last time they did this was in the record breaking season of '99. With this season looking to be a repeat of the Treble performance from '99, that feat looks set to be achieved again.

With Carlos Tevez being linked with a move away from United in the summer because of the Red Devils' apparent hesitancy to cough up around 30 million pounds to make his loan deal permanent, the two crucial goals he scored in these 2 games increases the pressure on Sir Alex Ferguson to keep this fan favourite at Old Trafford. If Tevez were to score another goal in Saturday's game against Arsenal, the striker's form might also pose Ferguson with a dilemma heading into the Champions League final at Rome on May 28th against Barcelona. Does he leave out record signing Dimitar Berbatov and deploy Tevez, the talismanic Wayne Rooney and the world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo up front? Or does he leave both Tevez and Berbatov out and go for a more conservative approach? At the end of this long winding season I'm just glad that its someone like Sir Alex who is at the helm to make such a crucial decision.

Arsenal game preview:

The two embarrassing defeats in the Champions League semis will still be fresh in the minds of the Arsenal players and fans. United should take advantage of the shell shocked Arsenal players who also lost at home to Chelsea last weekend. Ferguson would not also want his team to
loose their current rich vein of form ahead of the mouth watering clash against Barcelona in less than 2 weeks time. Wrapping up the championship against Arsenal also means that Ferguson will be able to rest all his stars at Hull next Sunday, 3 days ahead of the Champions League final. Given all this impetus plus the joy of winning in front of their home fans against old rivals Arsenal, I would expect United to go looking for a win and get just that!

Barcelona hit by injuries:

Already missing Daniel Alves and Abidal due to suspension and Gabby Milito and Rafael Marquez due to injury, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola got an added scare as Andres Iniesta, who scored the valuable goal deep into extra time against Chelsea in the 2nd leg of the semis, limped off with what appears to be a recurrence of an earlier thigh injury in the weekend game against Villareal. Iniesta and Thierry Henry, who picked up a ligament injury against Real Madrid a week earlier, both face a tough battle to be ready for the Champions League final. This could largely hamper Barcelona's challenge for the Champions League title.

If you're a Red Devil n u know it clap ur hands!

In my other posts on this blog I have tried to be as objective as possible... Not qriting biased one-sided passionate fan posts... But over the course of my studies on international journalism, I have come to understand that objectivity in reporting has never really existed... So what the hell... Unleashing the true Red Devil inside me...

3-1 Man United!... 4-1 on aggregate! As Gary Bloom (SBS commentator) put it, 'It was not men against boys, it was CHAMPIONS against boys'!... United's first ever win at the Emitates stadium and in what style... 2-0 up inside 10 minutes... 3-0 up after an awesome counter-attack early in the second half... If the only thing United did wrong at Old Trafford a week back was fail to take their chances, they definitely corrected that today!... The only tinge of regret... the only black mark, was the sending off of Darren Fletcher for a last man tackle on Cesc Fabregas, in which Fletcher clearly got to the ball first, yet got penalised. Van Persie scored from the penalty and got Arse-nal a thoruoghly undeserved consolation goal.

There was a lot of talk in the press from Wenger before the game about 'not leaving with any regrets'. Well... I guess Le Prof understood today just how far his kids have to 'mature' before they can step onto the pitch with United. For United though this performance away from home can very well be compared with that of the 7-1 drubbing of Roma two years back. The coreline may not be that emphatic but when you keep in mind that the entire game was played only with one striker on the pitch at any given point of time and that the game was at the Emirates against Arsenal, it throws into light the magnanimity of the acheivement. 

          

The atmosphere early on in the game wass terrific really with all those red and white Arsenal flags and shit... I guess most of those flags will remain in dumpsters in and around the ground as the poor idiots who support Arsenal try to forget this night for ever! But one thing is for certain... I'm not gonna let u forget it that easily!

Reviewing the player performances:

Almunia - Wenger made comments in the press after the first leg that Almunia is the best 'keeper in England! Come on!... The freekick of Ronaldo clearly showed that he is a mistake-prone at best, horrible at worst 'keeper! With Wenger saying Almunia should get English citizenship and get into the England team... am I glad that that won't happen...

Gibbs - In a facebook thread between Arsenal and Man U supporters that I'm a part of, some1 mentioned a 'dream' scenario in which Gibbs lands Ronaldo on his back, gallops forward and passes 2 Bendtner 2 score.... Well all I can say is Gibbs' butt and the Emirates turf have a unique understanding... one that let Park score the 1st goal of the game! :D

Djourou - Like in the 1st game Djourou must have though he was on the bench I guess... He sure did a looot of watching the game than doing anything about it!

Toure - Yaya Toure has recently come out and said he wants his bro at Barca... After this performance Arsenal will be glad to see him go...only prob would be that Barca won't take him! :P

Sagna - The only piece of skill Sagna showed in the match was when he caught the ball from falling to the ground over the touchline sometime in the first half. He then proceeded to throw it nicely as well... Maybe he should try cricket coz football is definitely not his cup of tea...

Song - Wenger this year called him the new Viera... Really Mr. Wenger??? are u tat dumb???... Viera at Song's age was helping Arsenal win the League and FA Cup double... Song trying to inspire this team 2 do that... no chance...

Nasri - The next Zinedine Zidane for some... Puhlease... don't disgrace Zidane... Nasri can't even wipe Zidane's butt... Nasri was so invisble in this game that I had to stop and think who was the 11th gunner on the pitch...

Fabregas - Other than being fouled by Fletcher for the penalty, Fabregas did absolutely nothing in the game... Clearly shows why Spain employ Senna behind him when he plays for them... Lads like Fabregas need someone with him to bully the other team's players away from him so that he can run into space and score one-on-one with the 'keeper!

Walcott - For all talks of the next big English thing and all Walcott sucked in both games! This leg clearly showed that for Walcott to dazzle he needs to put up against a far slower left back... Evra's pace easily put him in his place. Maybe Walcott needs to go play in the veteran's league where his pace can do him some good...

Van Persie - Scored the penalty. Took 2 freekicks. That was his total contribution. His coming back from injury made absolutely no difference!

Adebayor - Adi was ball boy and servant boy for United today. Everytime the ball would go out behind the United goal, Adi would run and fetch the ball and then place it on the 6 yard line for Van Der Sar to kick! He was terrific in those duties... But as a striker... Just as the rest of the team he was inefficient... invisible (even for some1 his height) for most parts!

United played a magnificent overall game. In the second half with the injection of Berbatov they even beat Arsenal at their own passing game... Park's shot that was saved by Almunia clearly shows how Utd ran circles around them.

I was predicting a 1-1 draw but I guess I was giving 2 much credit to the Gunners. Its been 5 years now since their trophyless run and 5 years of constant whinings of 'maturing side' by coach and fans alike... Well... deep down I guess everyone knows that this policy is gonna get them nowhere... They better go get some good players if they have the money! Earlier in the week their majority stakeholder increased his stakes to about 28%... how he must be wishing he hadn't done that now! :))

Anyway United through to the Champions League final in Rome. A repeat of the '99 treble is still on. Maybe I have taken biased reporting a bit 2 much in this post and then again maybe I've not... Who cares... I'm a true Red Devil at heart and I know it and I'm sure as well happy and clapping my hands! :D

Glory Glory Man United!

- BiBinhio.

1 down... 6 to go...

The Middlesborough game went as planned... 2-0 just as I had predicted. A smooth overall display capped with Giggs' goal less than a week after winning the PFA Player of the Year award. Hopefully the Welsh Wizard will land his 11th and Man United's 18th top flight championship trophy later this month. All that's needed now is 7 points from 4 games.

Later tonight is the Champions League return leg at Emirates against Arsenal with United taking a 1-0 lead into the game. That lead could and should have been a lot more emphatic based on the display they put up at Old Trafford 7 days back. This tie should definitely have been put to bed and unfortunately that's not the case. But on the flip-side it means that we are in for yet another exciting United vs Arsenal match today. Can't wait really!

Prediction: 1-1 draw (United progress 2-1 on aggregate).