manurejournal (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} manurejournal) wrote,@ 2005-10-16 20:11:00 |
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26 - Sunderland 1 United 3 / Robson on Rooney / American article on Glazers
Tonight's entry ate about a million roast potatoes for lunch today.
What a difference a different formation makes, eh?
The type of hit-and-run performance that United became famous for when they didn't play at their very best, this more than the rampant attacking display against Fulham stands out as the reason why United needed to reshuffle and accomodate Rooney in a central role. It was a fine performance, with Phil Bardsley once again uncompromising at the back and the best of the back four once again as Mikael Silvestre stumbled through another ponderous display. Alan Smith turned in his best central midfield display to date and was excellent, whilst Ji-Sung Park (NOT Park Ji-Sung, I'm reliably informed) was once again marvellous and Rooney quite brilliant.
The debut Premiership goal from little Giuseppe Rossi was the icing on a very nice cake. This was a Victoria Sponge, in fact - not the best cake around, but generally very pleasing if a little tough in places. What that goal will do is put Rossi on the map and wake Fergie up with regard to his undoubted talent. It was just a shame that Gerard Pique didn't get the chance to do the same. Surely, given Silvestre's appalling current form, Pique deserves a chance? A lack of experience at the back could be a good reason, I guess, but yesterday would have been an ideal fixture to blood him in.
All in all, most pleasing and finally a run of results under our belt.
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Thanks for that, Bobby. Not too much pressure on him, then? A completely ridiculous view this, but apparently one that would be shared by many pundits. What happened to this superstar midfield that was supposed to be the best in the world then?
I suppose in some ways Rooney is a victim of his own ability. By being so good he immediately fools people into believing that he can shoulder the burden of being United's creative centrepiece and England's forward momentum, seemingly maaking people forget how young he is. As a United fan though, in some ways I would be happy to see Rooney have a quiet World Cup. Coming off the back of a World Cup where he emerges as player of the tournament or very close to it would, in my opinion, perhaps see him retreat into a quiet couple of years for United.
Off the back of a quiet World Cup, where players like Owen, Beckham, Lampard and England manager David Beckham SHOULD be the ones who shoulder the burden of the nation's hopes, I could see him answering the inevitable critics by bouncing back and having a brilliant season next season. As wonderful as his form has been so far this season, I can't help but being concerned by what the near future holds for him.
************************
There have been literally thousands of column inches written about the takeover by the Glazer family since the story first broke regarding ther interest - as a result it's now at a point where nothing of any interest tends to get written now.
Then along comes an American article about the takeover and is one of the finest articles I've seen on the matter. An outside view of the situation certainly does shed some interesting light on the whole affair.
For instance, the claim that the New York Yankees fall well behind United when it comes to merchandising sales and franchise value. Surely that can't be true? I can't imagine that even a fraction of the people that walk around in Britain wearing Yankees memorabilia (me being one of them, but then I actually follow baseball and I'm not just wearing Yankees stuff because other people do) walk around around America wearing United memorabilia. I know this type of figure is probably calculated on a worldwide scale, but I can imagine that there is a fair amount of Yankees merchandise knocking around south-east Asia as well.
As for franchise value, I'm less surprised at this claim but still doubtful. George Steinbrenner ("We must find Costanza!") is a notorious tight arse and would surely wring as much worth out of the Yankees that he can, not to mention the fact that baseball is just a wealthier sport than football. But who am I to argue with a well-researched American chap?
Splendid article though, and offering further proof for me that some members of Shareholders United have been exploiting these recent events to further their own media profile. Unfortunately for Sean Bones, he has the charisma of an ironing board so occasional soundbites on Sky Sports News are the most he can hope for. His emotive and well-rehearsed lines - "It's our hallowed ground" stands out in particular - are those of a man well aware of his raised profile. Shareholders United have become far too concerned with dictionary masticating jargon instead of actual action. Nobody can claim to have come out of this smelling of roses. Bones can sit on his self-righteous barstool tut-tutting all he wants. Ultimately, he didn't do a very good job of organising an opposition to Glazer's takeover.
My latest weekly collection of Unitedular nonsense can be witnessed here. In the meanwhile, I shall return prior to the Lille clash. Ta.
Tonight's entry ate about a million roast potatoes for lunch today.
What a difference a different formation makes, eh?
The type of hit-and-run performance that United became famous for when they didn't play at their very best, this more than the rampant attacking display against Fulham stands out as the reason why United needed to reshuffle and accomodate Rooney in a central role. It was a fine performance, with Phil Bardsley once again uncompromising at the back and the best of the back four once again as Mikael Silvestre stumbled through another ponderous display. Alan Smith turned in his best central midfield display to date and was excellent, whilst Ji-Sung Park (NOT Park Ji-Sung, I'm reliably informed) was once again marvellous and Rooney quite brilliant.
The debut Premiership goal from little Giuseppe Rossi was the icing on a very nice cake. This was a Victoria Sponge, in fact - not the best cake around, but generally very pleasing if a little tough in places. What that goal will do is put Rossi on the map and wake Fergie up with regard to his undoubted talent. It was just a shame that Gerard Pique didn't get the chance to do the same. Surely, given Silvestre's appalling current form, Pique deserves a chance? A lack of experience at the back could be a good reason, I guess, but yesterday would have been an ideal fixture to blood him in.
All in all, most pleasing and finally a run of results under our belt.
Thanks for that, Bobby. Not too much pressure on him, then? A completely ridiculous view this, but apparently one that would be shared by many pundits. What happened to this superstar midfield that was supposed to be the best in the world then?
I suppose in some ways Rooney is a victim of his own ability. By being so good he immediately fools people into believing that he can shoulder the burden of being United's creative centrepiece and England's forward momentum, seemingly maaking people forget how young he is. As a United fan though, in some ways I would be happy to see Rooney have a quiet World Cup. Coming off the back of a World Cup where he emerges as player of the tournament or very close to it would, in my opinion, perhaps see him retreat into a quiet couple of years for United.
Off the back of a quiet World Cup, where players like Owen, Beckham, Lampard and England manager David Beckham SHOULD be the ones who shoulder the burden of the nation's hopes, I could see him answering the inevitable critics by bouncing back and having a brilliant season next season. As wonderful as his form has been so far this season, I can't help but being concerned by what the near future holds for him.
There have been literally thousands of column inches written about the takeover by the Glazer family since the story first broke regarding ther interest - as a result it's now at a point where nothing of any interest tends to get written now.
Then along comes an American article about the takeover and is one of the finest articles I've seen on the matter. An outside view of the situation certainly does shed some interesting light on the whole affair.
For instance, the claim that the New York Yankees fall well behind United when it comes to merchandising sales and franchise value. Surely that can't be true? I can't imagine that even a fraction of the people that walk around in Britain wearing Yankees memorabilia (me being one of them, but then I actually follow baseball and I'm not just wearing Yankees stuff because other people do) walk around around America wearing United memorabilia. I know this type of figure is probably calculated on a worldwide scale, but I can imagine that there is a fair amount of Yankees merchandise knocking around south-east Asia as well.
As for franchise value, I'm less surprised at this claim but still doubtful. George Steinbrenner ("We must find Costanza!") is a notorious tight arse and would surely wring as much worth out of the Yankees that he can, not to mention the fact that baseball is just a wealthier sport than football. But who am I to argue with a well-researched American chap?
Splendid article though, and offering further proof for me that some members of Shareholders United have been exploiting these recent events to further their own media profile. Unfortunately for Sean Bones, he has the charisma of an ironing board so occasional soundbites on Sky Sports News are the most he can hope for. His emotive and well-rehearsed lines - "It's our hallowed ground" stands out in particular - are those of a man well aware of his raised profile. Shareholders United have become far too concerned with dictionary masticating jargon instead of actual action. Nobody can claim to have come out of this smelling of roses. Bones can sit on his self-righteous barstool tut-tutting all he wants. Ultimately, he didn't do a very good job of organising an opposition to Glazer's takeover.
My latest weekly collection of Unitedular nonsense can be witnessed here. In the meanwhile, I shall return prior to the Lille clash. Ta.
