>Manchester United, a one man team?

>Wayne Rooney is on the best form of his footballing career, scoring his 34th goal of the season, in the 2-1 loss to Bayern at last night’s Champions league encounter. However, on the 92 minute of the match, only a few seconds before Olic scored that crucial goal that gave the home side a win, Rooney rolled on his right ankle and had to walk out of the stadium with crutches with protective boots in place. Manchester United fans should start worrying and praying as they have a crucial game in the weekend against Chelsea and then a second leg match against Bayern in Old Trafford…..






There has been so much hype about Rooney getting injured, which i feel only amplifies how much the team relies on him. The last minute double blow at Munich may have demoralized the team, with Rooney potentially injured and a last minute goal dealt to them. It will be interesting to see how the Devils will bounce back from this. Rooney has scored most of United’s goal, he has really stepped up his game this year after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. But i think it is unfair to Rooney that he has the burden of the entire fan base and team on his shoulders  as they look to him to provide the goods. They should have enough players to provide as well, they have the squad dept and quality in them to match up to any team, so i don’t understand why Rooney is the focus of the team when everyone else has the potential to provide the same!


Rooney may have scored the first goal in less than 2 minutes but Bayern slowly got a grip of the game and started pouring forward. If you look at the stats of the game, Rooney was slowly marked out of the game as the scoring opportunities started to favored Bayern. To be honest , Manchester United were very poor and thinking that they could just rely on Rooney to bail them out… not this time… the tide has turned and Bayern have done a 1999 Champions League final reverse on United. Manchester were lucky that Robben wasn’t fit to play, it could have been a far worst scoreline as  Robben and transfer targeted Ribery would have turned the United back four inside out. 


Here is a little food for thought,
What would happen if Rooney couldn’t play both crucial matches? Lose out on the title race and Champions League glory on the reliance of one player. 


Signing off,
Prosoc8

>Who will win the English Premier League 09/10?

>

 The end of the season is near but the title race is still wide open with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal battling hard for it. It will be hard to predict what would be the outcome this year’s race……. 

Over the weekend, Chelsea thrashed and humiliated Aston Villa 7-1 with F.Lampard scoring 4 of the goals. Aston Villa is never an easy opponent to play as they have shown their European credentials. However, Chelsea showed no mercy and Aston Villa was powerless to stop a Chelsea side playing on high  gear. It was a perfect reaction from the previous week’s draw with Blackburn. They thumped Portsmouth 5-0 and now 7-1 to Aston Villa, and if they can keep up their form for the remaining games, the title is definitely up for grabs.

Manchester on the other hand, won 4-0 over Bolton even without their ace striker Rooney. Rooney has been the driving force for Manchester United, scoring 25 goals during the 09/10 campaign, but he was forced to miss this game with an injury. Manchester showed no signs of missing Rooney as they still managed a comfortable 4-0 win over Bolton, with Berbatov scoring a brace. The scoreline in my opinion flattered Manchester as at times Bolton did cause problems for the Devil’s back four, if it weren’t for Van derSar, the scoreline would have been different.


Just when Arsenal are starting to pick up the pace for the title, they were halted as Kevin Phillips of Birmingham scored his 250th goal of his professional career to prevent Arsenal from taking all 3 points. Arsene Wenger wasn’t happy about the tackle on Fabregas and his made his feelings known during the press conference.


 “He got tackled at the knee, kicked just under the knee. We tried to take him off but he said he was all right. Am I suggesting there were a lot of bad tackles? Leave me alone with that, for f***’s sake.

“You are always looking for controversy, you do not need me to tell you what happened on the pitch. I can give you my opinion about our game but you always create this controversy.”  -Arsene Wenger

This result has dented Arsenal’s push for a title but there are still chances for Arsenal to keep up if they keep up their form. Arsenal need to stop relying on Fabregas, once Fabregas was kicked, he wasn’t the same player anymore with poor touches and poor passing throughout the game. 

Arsenal still have a big game this week against Barcelona and they will have to be at their best if they want to compete against a very strong Barcelona side. 


SO who will win this year’s English Premier League… you will just have to wait and see… 
Arsenal will be given a chance to catch up when the Devils meet the blues next week in a match that could decide which side is favored to win this year’s Premier League. Can Manchester United stop rampant Chelsea? Or will the blues continue their goal scoring form? 


Signing off 
Prosoc8