Master of Puppet

Second game for United into a brand new season of the Premier League 2013/14 and to be honest I see no sign of new management, no new tactics, no new style of play – just plain old boring Fergie style of football. I began to wonder if Moyes is a reincarnation of Alex Ferguson. Or Ferguson is still managing team behind the curtains, “puppeting” Moyes?? Yes they have won one and drew one but seriously, there were no bloody improvement on the team! The club has an eclectic pool of young talent at Moyes disposals yet he is not deploying them. Even with much ball possession, United never look comfortable throughout at least 50% of the game.

Let’s start with the last game against Chelsea. United attacks were superb with Rooney pairing with RVP, tearing Chelsea’s defence, only to be shortened by the lack of creative in the midfield area. Ever so reliable Welbeck & Chicharito were always excellent covers should the front two got injured. Prior to this, It is no stranger to millions of Die-Hard United fans that United midfield are super-lacking of its killer passing, creative midfield except 2 of them – Sir Alex Ferguson & David Moyes. United has Kagawa, Zaha, Nani even Anderson and yet Moyes is using Valencia and Giggs. Valencia weren’t as good as he previously was. Not that I am asking to ignore him totally or to sell him. We all know what Valencia is capable of just make him work for his place against the likes of Nani, Zaha & Young. Give Zaha a chance to prove his worth. Zaha & Nani played well during the pre-seasons. I’m not saying that Giggs should retire, Giggsy has always been very reliable but the last match while Chelsea have began to worn out, Welbeck should be replaced by Kagawa instead of Giggs.

 

And why was our Kagawa not given much play time since Moyes took over? Is he not good enough in the eyes of David Moyes?! C'mon...no one in the current Everton squad has better capabilities than our fine Samurai. Or I questioned myself sometimes...has Moyes really seen what Kagawa is capable of?

Another player is Phil Jones, he is becoming more of a clown recently. Often very clumsy with his donkey passes and silly tackles. I was very excited when Phil Jones joined United. He started very well in his first season but somehow his playing style dipped. His clumsiness is somewhat similar to Mikael Silvestre. I always bet Phil Jones will be an excellent England defender but sad but true now I kind of prefer Smalling to Jones.

Rio, Vidic & Evra, in spite of their catching age, they were superb and lasted throughout 90mins. Well done lads!!

In recent conference, Moyes made a confession that lack of creativity & fine final touches cost United not to bag 3 points against Chelsea. Took him awhile to realise this. Only days away until the transfer window closes. Will Moyes really pumping in new blood? Or is he sticking with whatever he has for now?

Here are the two possibilities and probably reunion parties;

Fellaini – Young & strong Belgian with the ability to score. Good in the air. Definitely a surplus, in my opinion, of course. It’s about time they find Carrick a replacement. Carrick is becoming terrible passer of late. His tackles were as bad. Like I have said many times, to me Carrick is just an over-rated player.

Baines – We’ve already got Lightning Evra, Bad boy Buttner and Samba Kid Fabio. Unless Moyes wants him Baines in Giggs’ position, left winger.

My worries are Ashley Young who is an injury prone and Valencia, hope he can pick up where he left off 2 seasons ago.

What United need are creative midfielders. Please don’t get rejected player from Madrid or Barcelona. Manchester United Football Club is a worldwide icon with great resources and establishment. I believe United scouts team have a major task to do now if they want to find untapped young Cristiano Ronaldo, young Zidane, young Ronaldinho, young Robben, young Ribery and other youngsters like them. Someone like Santiago Munez from the movie Goal, an example of what all rich clubs should be doing – tapping young unknown talents and not from bloodsucking clubs demand for ridiculous price for their good players unless you really have the money, of course.

This is Moyes first season, I extremely suggest Moyes not to sleep at all for the next 5/6 days, put on his thinking cap and seriously consider 1 or 2 quality & creative players coz if he fails to sign any of these players, he’ll soon to realise that next season’s arm emblem will not be gold one anymore. Imagine Jose Mourinho were to be Red Devils manager, he’ll definitely be making massive changes!

Wayne Rooney...Be Gone or Not Be Gone??

Rooney keep on giving stupid excuses and has been reacting like a child lost his pacifier, he clearly does not have the heart to play for the club anymore. If he is crazy enough to move to Chelsea, good luck to him. No one should stop him. Just let this goofy go if he insists. His stinking attitude might indirectly pull the rest of the team down, psychologically.

If he desires to move to Chelsea, I hope he achieves what Torres has achieved during his time in the Stamford Bridge...transfer flop of the year 2013/14.

I hate when a player like Rooney who has everything sorted out for him in the club and eventually wants out of the club. If he wants to get out of the club, he should state his intentions clearly and get lost from the club like what Ronaldo did to United. Yes Ronaldo have said many times before he left that it was his dream to play for Real Madrid. Imagine if Ronaldo have not played for Manchester United, would Real Madrid sign him from Sporting CP?? Maybe yes maybe no, who would have known?! Now that Real Madrid president wants Ronaldo to retire at Real Madrid. So much for a player who missed Manchester United...ya right!!

If it is never about the money...go play for free then!!

Moyes First Few Rough Steps

Life is not greener on the other side...

3 games in charged, lost to Thailand, won against Australia and recently lost again to a Japanese Club, Yokohama. Moyes is surely wetting in his pants right now or he'll be trying to play it cool by saying it is just another warm up game.

Already having his second bid rejected for Cesc Fabregas and was warned-off by Barca's club president, rumours saying that he going to bid for the third bid. Why are United still proposing to the bride who is not interested at all?! Quit it!! Quick go find other better and cheaper players before they were all snapped up instead of concentrating on one idiot who is not interested to join United! Like I have mentioned in my previous post, there are billions of amazing football talent from around the world, why only one man?! Other clubs are moving forward. I hope David Moyes utilises his younger squad and able to tap some rare talents and push them up to first team squad.

Let's see what's Moyes plan for his next game, still in Japan, against Cerezo Osaka. To me it is okay to lose in the pre-seasons as long as the whole squad benefits from the losing lesson...dig it??

Thiago, Fabregas, Bale and what's next??

Why is Manchester United Football Club, the most popular club in the world need stuck up/rejected players? Clearly Thiago was a rejected player by Barcelona. He is young yet no place in the Barca squad? Blame it on Xavi and Iniesta, c’mon guys if Thiago is really that good, Barca would never let him go even at €350m. Xavi and Iniesta are reaching to their golden ages leaving Fabregas behind.

And after the rumours of failure to pursuit for Thiago signature, United desperately wants to land Cesc Fabregas. Fabregas clearly does not want to play for United…not in a million years! And United are still trying to bid after bid for this kind of player? Makes no sense really!!

Then comes Bale, after his sad ambition to play for Real Madrid went flushed down the toilet, recently claimed that he would welcome a chance to play for United? Is United really a second choice club nowadays?? Really, really makes no sense…this pure rubbish!!!

There are SO many fishes in the ocean, why do they only want Spanish Snappers?? No, seriously there are millions of untapped talent all over the world that United should look up for and the best thing is they do not need to pay hefty price for these rare, special talents. Why couldn’t they get more players like Ronaldo?? Buttner was also another good example. To be honest, I was pretty excited when I got to know that United brought Bebe from a small club in Portugal. I began searching in YouTube for his name. After watching his video, my anticipation grows. I can’t wait to see him play. When Sir Alex fielded him the first time, yes he was very raw but not many realised that he is an uncut diamond. He has the skills, the built and definitely the looks of a killer striker. But due to not many chance were given, he was loaned out.

United don’t need to spend billions of dollars on players, they are already heavy debt why dig deeper?! If no talents could be spotted outside, this is the opportunity to raise the dead legs from the second team. We have wasted many young talents over the years and become world class individuals. Give the current young squad like Jesse Lingard, Wilfred Zaha, Adnan Januzaj and company have their chance. Let them make mistakes. Thru mistakes they will learn to play harder and better in their next games ahead.

But if Moyes insist in signing a marquee player or two, that is his tactics. I am just an ordinary yet super United fan that can do nothing about it but to continue to support Manchester United, only if you are being a true United fan!

Beginning of the Pre-Season 2013/14

1st July 2013, David Moyes walks into the Theater of Dreams with hopes and ambitions. He recently went through a press conference and was praised for his strong yet calm response to the press. Well this is no Everton...THIS IS MANCHESTER UNITED!! We'll see if he does better than Sir Alex Ferguson when Ferguson took charge somewhere 27 years ago. All the very best, Moyes!!

It already been a week since the pre-season has started and football clubs in the English Premier League have been busy in the transfer market.

Tottenham Hotspurs have snapped up 24 year old strong Brazilian midfielder Paulinho from Corinthians. Paulinho played a big part of the Confederations Cup tournament and helped Brazil to become Champions. A great catch I must say. AVB really knows how to go under the radar.

Well Moyes has not only been under the radar but he has claimed that United are really working hard to sign marquee who can make a difference behind the curtains. Too bad Moyes, I think you might have just missed the bus with Thiago in it. Yet again another huge publicity transfer almost turned into ashes. There were reports saying that Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) has triggered Thiago release fee and apparently talks were believed to be on the way soon. Bravo ManUtd, all of us in the world have realised that United midfielders were not up to their game whenever competing against other major European clubs.

All these talks about Thiago's father has agreed on a 5 or 6 year deal and all...are pure rubbish!!

Anyway, it ain't over till it's over, right? Thiago's possible transfer to Bayern Munich is as good as staying behind at Barcelona. He will still have to compete for his place in the first eleven. To be honest and to make life simpler for Thiago, it's stay with Barca and wait for his time to come or Manchester United, where he will immediately get more games.

FIFA Confederation Cup Final 2013 - Brazil vs Spain

Kick off and in the 2nd minutes Brazil took a lead 1-0 scored by Fred. Based on the first 10mins, it looked like the Samba Boys are back! Yeah they had the home advantage but they looked quite solid in overall. Spain were not bad themselves either. Their defender Arbeloa was almost red carded in the 14th minute when he was the last man and brought down Neymar. Fortunately he was only shown the yellow card. Brazil players and fans were furious with the refs decision. Spain never rested since Brazil took the lead, they were coming strong, attacks after attacks. In the 27th minute Ramos received a yellow card for bringing down Chelsea's Oscar right at the edge of the penalty box. Fred almost double his goal tally and Brazil's lead in the minutes 31st but Casillas superbly stopped it with his left foot. Both Xavi, Juan Mata and Aniesta used all their master cheats and tricks, trying to equalise before the half time but Brazil defence were rock solid at the back.

Am I the only one who sees Chelsea's brazilian defender David Luiz looks like Giovanni from the favourite classic TV sitcom Mind Your Language?!

Barcelona's Pedro nearly equalised for Spain in the 40th minute but David Luiz slided across the goal mouth only to stop the ball from crossing the line.

Brazil geared up and increased their lead 2-0 to the half time, goal rammed in by Brazil's current beloved homeboy Neymar's assisted by Oscar. Spain looked to have more possession in the first half but Brazil played better football in the first half and took every chances they possibly can.

While waiting for the teams to move in from the tunnel, videoman took shots from both supporters stands....mostly women! The Rio De Janeiro stadium were only about 95% full. It was one of the match of the decade, why no full house?

2nd half kicked in and Brazil immediately extend their lead by Fred's 2nd of the night to Brazil 3 Spain 0. Wow!! No one would have expected this kind of score line especially when the numbers were against Spain. How long more could Spain endure the pain?!

53rd minute, newly sub J.Navas earned Spain a penalty but R.Madrid's Ramos placed it wide off the post. The score remained 3-0. Spain never gave up and were still going strong but Brazilian goalkeeper were equally superb.

67th minute, Neymar were again brought down, this time by former Manchester United player Piqué. Referee showed him the way out of the field and Spain were down to 10 men! Poor Shakira was watching from the VIP stand when his men got red carded.

Brazil looked to have brought the game to a lower speed and their national coach Luis Felipe Scolari never looked happy. He demanded better response to his player from his dug hole.

Fred couldn't claim his hat trick when he was substituted Jo in the 78th minute.

80th minute, Spain almost got a consolation goal but yet again was stopped by the evergreen Julio Cesar. Spain remained resilient but the looked exhausted. Both Xavi and Aniesta looked to have lost of ideas. Sometimes these red card decision spoils the beauty of a game unless it is really a nasty tackle.

Already in its stoppage time after the 90th minute, Brazil looked set to win the tournament and yes they did. Neymar, Fred and Julio Cesar each deserved the man of the match award for the night.

Brazil were crowned champions of the FIFA Confederation Cup 2013!

Everton Reunion in Old Trafford??

Manchester United had their £15m bid rejected for Everton's finest left back, Leighton Baines and they are coming back with a larger bid - £20m! My word....£20m for a 29 year old left back? Isn't there any younger players out there?? The U-20s World Championship & Confederation Cup are just over, I'm sure there are more than one who outshines the rest....SCOUT & SIGN THEM INSTEAD! What's wrong these clubs nowadays?! I've seen better potential, cheaper and younger players from the lower leagues crying out loud, trying to reach the big clubs to sign them.

Wouldn't it better if a rich club from the Premier League pay the lower leagues more money for their players and provide support, and encourage home grown players to perform better? This way England will always have an eclectic pool of young talents for the national squad hence making them a strong England team ahead! Although I have been living in Singapore for 35 years, I have always wanted England to lift the World Cup or at least the Euro Cup. The Premier League has an excellent range of foreign talents but I always believe that the Three Lions have the potential to be European Champions & World Champions!

 

Patrice Evra is rumored to leave Manchester United for Monaco AS and that could be the reason for the signing of Baines. Whatever it is, I hope Moyes is able to rotate his left future left backs, likes of Fabio and Buttner, should Baines arrives to Old Trafford. Or they'll be 2 very unhappy left backs.

Recently, there were reports of Argentinian defender Ezequiel Garay from Benfica went house hunting in Manchester. Some reliable source report that Garay could be on the verge of signing for United with growing injury worries over Vidic, Ferdinand, Smalling last season. United have failed to keep clean sheets many times throughout the season with the absence of their quality defenders. Look at the last season's last game against West Brom, what a terrible score line...5-5! It is really unfair for those who have bought the home season tickets, just to watch them play badly after winning the Premier League title.