Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Why Manchester United embody everything good about football!!!

I listened to the commentary of our FA Cup tie against Fulham at Craven Cottage on the radio as well as watching it on Dutch TV via an Internet Satelite. The pangs got worse.
The commentators were raving about United. They were ransacking their minds for new superlatives. It sounded as if they were watching football poetry, but as i watched it was more than that.
Not that it's anything particularly new praising United given that i am such a huge Mancunian. Sir Alex Ferguson's sides have dominated the game in England for the last 15 years.
There have been great teams to watch, filled with great players. Too many to mention, really. A cast of stars.
But it feels as though there's something special about Ferguson's latest creation, as though what he has built at Old Trafford has taken another step forward in its evolution.
The way this United team play football, you want to take your kids to a game so that in years to come, they can say they saw them play.
Whoever they grow up to support, they can say they saw a United side that was chasing five trophies.
They can say they saw Ryan Giggs in his glorious autumn, Wayne Rooney growing into his prime, Cristiano Ronaldo in his pomp, the fiery majesty of Paul Scholes, the breathtaking passing of Michael Carrick and one of the best English club defences there has ever been.
And they can say they saw Ferguson himself, standing watchfully over his charges in his Old Trafford perch, gazing down at his final achievement and the one that we may yet remember him by.
For all those reasons, it will feel like a privilege to watch United take on Inter Milan in the second leg of their Champions League second round tie this evening.
Seeing them take on Liverpool, the pretenders to their throne, on Saturday afternoon will be equally unmissable.

It's possible, of course, that Inter will spoil this script by beating United tonight. How typical of their boss, Jose Mourinho, it would be to conjure a result like that, but the evidence we have seen so far suggests that won't happen. The evidence we have seen so far suggests that Inter, like most other teams, are simply not in United's league. United were so much better than Inter in the first half of the first leg at the San Siro that the gulf was embarrassing. Inter were lumpen. United were brilliant.
Apart from all the individual talents the team possess, what is so striking about this United team is its technical accomplishment.
There is nothing traditionally English about their style at all. They have travelled a million miles, too, from the 4-4-2 orthodoxy that ruled their fantastic Treble-winning side of 1999.
They are fluid now. So fluid they slip through your fingers. So fluid they're close to perfecting Total Football. Very close indeed.
Their close control is fantastic. They play the ball into feet at pace into tight areas. They keep possession. They pass the opposition to death.
Their movement is like quicksilver. Players such as Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, dropping deep, pulling wide, are unmarkable.
Their speed of passing and their speed of thought is reminiscent of the Spain team that outplayed England so comprehensively last month in Seville. And compliments don't come much higher than that.
So I hope United wipe the floor with Inter tonight. Not because they're English and Inter are Italian or the fact that I am die hard RED for LIFE, but because this United team represents everything that is good about the game and Inter don't. And because their quest for five trophies is something to be marvelled at, even if, sooner or later, it may come unstuck.
If you can get a ticket for anything in sport, get a ticket to watch this United team play. Its truly mesmerizing!!!!!

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