Tag: EPL

It’s Time to Say Goodbye

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Old Trafford is one of the greatest stadiums in the world. It is the largest of any of the EPL club’s stadiums and it has an aura of magic. It has played host to many fantastic games and many incredible players. For some United players though, tomorrow’s game against Blackpool will be their last in the Theater of Dreams.

Edwin van der Sar has been a great goalkeeper throughout his time at United. I can still remember his penalty save against Chelsea that won the cup. He has been a great footballer and he will be missed. Sir Alex Ferguson announced that Van der Sar will start in the net in the last game of the season. This will give the fans a chance to thank him for his great work during his time at United.

Edwin van der Sar Edwin Van der Sar of Manchester United saves the penalty attempt from Ncolas Anelka of Chelsea to win during the UEFA Champions League Final match between Manchester United and Chelsea at the Luzhniki Stadium on May 21, 2008 in Moscow, Russia.

Although it is not certain that Paul Scholes will retire, there is a very good chance of it. It is a good opportunity for him to go out on a good note. Scholes has been a key member of United for since he came in to the first team squad in 1994. Before that, Scholes has been part of United’s youth program. He has always been a great players for United, getting in trouble at times but always coming off in style. His vicious tackles scarred even the most hardened players. He will always be remembered as one of the United greats.

Although these two players are retiring and others may be leaving, United will keep strong as one of the best teams in the world. They will get new players who have skill and knowledge but the greats that preceded them will not be forgotten.

Gers

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Rangers Football Club (or the Gers as some of their loyal fans call them) recently won the Scottish Premier League title. This is the third title in a row they have won.

unfortunately in the SPL it is almost always only a competition between two teams, Rangers and Celtic. This year followed that. Rangers finished the season with 93 points in front of Celtic who had 92. The third place team? They had 63 points.

No other team in Europe has won as many trophies as Rangers, yet on the international scene they don’t get much credit. among many other large numbers, Rangers have won 54 league titles. 54! People are raving about United’s accomplishment of 19 (including me) but 54…that is incredible.

Granted the SPL is nowhere near as difficult as the EPL but it is still amazing.

I love Rangers because of my Protestant Scottish heritage, I’m no bandwagoner. But for those people looking for a team outside of the EPL to support, look in to Rangers.

They play pretty football for a Scottish team partly because they have players from all over the world. They have fanatic fans that give the atmosphere a great feel (usually) and they are a succesful club. They really deserve more credit.

But who deserves credit most of all is Walter Smith. After the last game of the season, Smith retired as coach of Rangers. During his time the team won 21 major titles including 10 times league champions. He has been a wonderful representative of the Ranger organization and he will be honored and missed. I cannot stress enough what a great coach and a great asset he has been. There is a great article on his importance here.

So go Gers! And for any Hoop fan reading this, don’t count on us stopping at 3.

19

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The number 19 is not considered special by most people. It doesn’t get the glory of 10 or hold the importance of 100. But on Saturday, May 14th of 2011, the number 19 got a little credit.

Manchester United won their 19th league title this past Saturday. To most people, that does not seem to be a good enough reason to shave the number in to your chest hair, but for Manchester United star striker Wayne Rooney (pictured above) it was a great reason.

This league title now gives Manchester United the most league titles of any English club. Again this may not seem like a huge deal. But looking back it is a huge deal.

Before the 1992-93 season, United only had 7 league titles. This was not bad but compared to Liverpool’s 18 titles, it was quite small. But in only 19 seasons, United won 12 of their now 19. That is simply incredible.

With this new title United can now surpass their arch nemesis Liverpool as far as the most dominant team in history. All of the last 12 titles have come from Sir Alex Ferguson who took over a struggling team.

United had not won a title since the 1966-67 season. During that time they had been relegated and had lost much of their prestige. But Fergie changed all of that. During his reign, United have won many accolades including the Treble, the only team to have ever accomplished the feat.

Fergie should be credited with much of the rebuilding that has happened. He took over in 1988, taking over a club that was on the verge of relegation. He has now built them in to the largest team in the world.

United now hold 19 league titles, a number that for them seemed impossible to get to. They were weak and now they are strong. Now they can be the ones celebrating by carving numbers in to their chest hair.

Little Pea

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He was expected to be great, but not this soon.

This past summer, Manchester United signed Javier Hernández Balcázar, also known as Chicharito (which is “little pea” in English). His nickname comes from his father, who also was a professional soccer player, named Chicharo. The last three generations of his family have played for Chivas, a very impressive family tree.

United signed him at age 21, a young but very mature player. Chicha had been on the Mexican team that won the U-17 World Cup. He also scored two goals for Mexico in last summer’s world cup.

When he was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson, United fans were surprised. Chicha was not a well known player in England and although he had proven himself playing for Chivas (leading the Mexican Primera with 17 goals) he was not being hailed as a prodigy.

But as usual, Sir Alex Ferguson showed his brilliance. Chicha is the second leading scorer for Manchester United with 10 goals in the Premier League.

10 might not seem like a huge number but Chicha has only played in 20 games. Even more impressive, those 10 goals came off of only 37 shots, a very good rate.

In all competitions he has 29 goals in 80 games, an absolutely incredible record.

The EPL is very different from the Mexican Primera where Chicha was playing but he has adjusted beautifully. He is an exciting player to watch and is already showing leadership among some of the most famous players in the world.

In United’s most recent game against Marseille, Chicharito scored two goals, winning the game for United.

Manchester United's Javier Hernandez scores the opening goal

Chicha brings a Latino American soccer style, one that is flashy and exciting, to Manchester United. He looks to be an extremely promising player, a goal scorer and leader. With his skill, Manchester United has a lot better chance of winning games.

Painting Manchester Red

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Being a loyal Manchester United fan, I awoke at the lovely time of 4:30am to watch the Man U vs. Man City game. The derby always brings out the raw emotions in players and fans, two teams fighting over bragging rights.

This derby did not disappoint. There were moments that I was on the verge of screaming at the television (the only thing holding me back was the fear of waking my mother).

United got a goal near the end of the first half thanks to some great skill by Nani, a player who has stepped up to fill a spot that needed filling. At this point I was confident that this was United’s game to win.

And then that feeling changed. David Silva (who had a marvelous game) scored in the 65th minute. I became very worried. City was able to attack to easily and United looked to have nothing going forward.

But then Wayne Rooney came to the rescue. The goal Rooney got was quite possibly the greatest goal I have ever seen. The skill needed to perform such a shot is out of this world, added to that is the fact that it was in one of the biggest games of the season against United’s hated rival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVVNax8LVU

When Rooney scored his miraculous goal I could not help but jump off the couch and start pumping my fists (still to scared to yell).

Manchester United was able to hold on and win, despite some great football by City. This game almost certainly knocked City out of the title race. It also keeps United 4 points clear of Arsenal.

First of the Fergu(sons) to Retire

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Gary Neville has retired. This was a surprise for me, I did not see him going another season but I did not think that he would retire at this point, midway through the year.

This is the first of a batch of players to retire that were basically raised by Sir Alex Ferguson. This group of players includes Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, and Gary Neville’s brother Phil.

Sir Alex Ferguson has coached Gary Neville for 20 years, he made him into one of (if not the best) right backs in English Football. Gary Neville and the rest of that group have been like Ferguson’s sons over the years. There have been ups and downs but they have had a fantastic relationship on and off th pitch.

Gary Neville played 602 games for Manchester United, 85 for England. Those 602 games for one team is unbelievable. Ferguson mentioned that he does not think (and he is usually right) that 602 games will ever be matched by a EPL player, especially playing for just one team.

In all honesty I have never been a huge Neville supporter. It was not that I thought he was a bad footballer, his style just never interested me. However, I have immense respect for Gary Neville. He laid it all out on the field. He gave everything he had for Manchester United.

I can not say what Gary Neville’s legacy will be, all I can say is that I have immense respect for what he gave for United; all those times he trashed Liverpool, all the times he got in players faces, all the times when he challenged Ferguson.

Neville always reminded me of a pirate, not just how he looked but his hardened attitude and his tenacity, and for that I say thank you.

Overlooked

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When I am asked who I think the footballer is, I always respond that the questioner must specify the position. For someone who has never played football it might be hard to understand, but the positions out on the soccer field are very different.

By far the most secluded player on any team is the goalkeeper. They have special rules for them , they wear a different jersey and they see a different game. When I say they see a different game I mean that they are able to see everything that goes on during a soccer game, watching from the back.

They have an incredibly hard job; telling people where to be and trying to organize a defence. They also face wickedly hard shots, diving to punch the ball away, slamming into the ground, sacrificing themselves.

As the saying goes, being a goalkeeper means long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.

My mind is on this subject because today Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar announced he will be retiring at the end of this season. This is not a huge surprise given that he is 40, yet reading the headline I am filled with sadness.

Van der Sar came to United late in his career, after playing at Fulham and Juventus for many years as well as for the Netherlands. He gave United a real force at the back, giving the whole team confidence that even if there was a shot on goal, if it was a shot that could be saved, Van der Sar would save it.

He has been a leader and an inspiration to a position that is to often overlooked. It is the most stressful position on a football pitch and he controlled it gracefully. He has shown talent far above players half his age.

Despite family issues he gave everything he had for United, his most famous save coming against Nicholas Anelka in the Champions League final in 2008.

He will be remembered by United fans and I wish his the best of luck in whatever he does next.

Transfer Time

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As it is January the EPL transfer season is open. Most deals are either completed right at the begining or in teh final hours. This years has not seen many big name transfers in or out of the EPL, mostly inpart due to the economy.

Patrice Evra

Sir Alex Ferguson decided against any big transfers. The players supported him in this choice with Rio Ferdinand saying, “I look around the changing room and I’m happy with the players we’ve got”. This lack of trading comes as no surprise as Man U are top of the league and have a fairly deep roster.

A story that has not received very much attention up to this point is the intrest in 17-year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He currently plays for Southhampton but is interested in training with Arsenal. This is very similar to the path that Theo Walcott took, going from Southhampton to Arsenal at a young age.

From the scouting reports, Chamberlin has quite a bit of talent and potential. Arsenal is a very good team for developing youth and Chamberlin would be well suited to go there. Arsenal has a tendency to do a great job developing young players and then selling them. They look to break that cycle, keeping players like Samir Nasri.

Back to Normal

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This week saw a return to the “normal” Premier League scores, at least so far. Man City went “top” after beating a feisty Wolves teams 4-3. I put top in parenthesis because Manchester United has three games in hand and are only one point back.

Carlos Tevez

Arsenal grabbed a 3-0 win over bottom of the table West Ham. This came as no surprise as a competent Arsenal team passed West Ham off the field, showing their superiority. In my opinion Arsenal are the prettiest team to watch in the EPL right now, they pass and move, creating beautiful chances, many of which they finish.

Robin Van Persie

Chelsea managed to get a 2-0 win over Blackburn despite their mediocre play. Drogba does not look like he has the power and ability that he did before getting malaria and I hope to see him get that back. Blackburn showed why English soccer has gotten a reputation as playing ugly soccer, lumping the ball up the field for their strikers to run on to. Although this technique can prove to be effective at times, they would have had a better chance at beating Chelsea if they utilized their midfield more.

Branislav Ivanovic

I am very excited for tomorrow as Liverpool takes on Everton and Manchester United battle Tottenham. The Liverpool game will be Reds Hero Kenney Dalglish’s first return back to Anfield, trying to stop Liverpool from losing any more precious points. United looks to remain undefeated and regain their top spot in the standings. Tottenham must do something they have not been able to do in a decade, beat Sir Alex Ferguson.

To follow tomorrow’s United vs. Tottenham game go to: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=293065&cc=5901

An Ode to Ryan Giggs

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Ryan Giggs is a legend. Not only is he 37, but he is still able to play at the highest level in the EPL.

Today he signed a contract extension that will last through next season. Next year will be his 22nd season at Manchester United. Those 22 seasons have been full of awards on a personal and team level. At age 35, Giggs still managed to capture Player of the Year for the EPL.

He has been a leader for United, playing hard, physical and intelligent football. Giggs has taught players like David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Michael Carrick and many others.

I feel that Ryan Giggs is one of the most transformational players football has seen. He plays a style of soccer that involves much running, hard tackles while still playing an attacking game.

He is a Welsh hero and will be known as one of the greatest United players ever. I will not pretend that he is on the downhill slope, but he is still able to play football better than many players half his age.

Hopefully Giggs will follow Roy Keane and go into coaching, expanding his career in football that is already legendary. Ryan Giggs has inspired my football career and I am sure I am not alone. Thank you Giggsy for what you have done and what you continue to do.