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It really has been a wonderful week. United win five nil, England claim the ashes and fortress Anfield is ransacked by men in purple shirts. There has been a bit of glow to bask in – but just as we start to relax the Arsenal team bus comes into view.
Are we playing well enough to beat Arsenal at the moment? A solid victory last week would suggest so, but appearances can be deceptive.
Wigan actually murdered us in the first half at the acronym stadium. Yes, we did score five goals, although I suspect we will not be playing teams who’ve sold us their best player and just changed manager every week. Because we won’t be.
In truth, during the first half we showed less fluency than I showed in my last Swahili speaking test. Nobody was making runs and we were making Wigan look a classy side.
It is good that they show class on the pitch because off it they do not. Stitching people up for £45+ a ticket when United come to town is not on. The swathes of empty seats should work as a lesson for them. What have we learnt from this Mr. Whelan?
Foster looked a million times more assured in goal than at Burnley and even if Wigan were smelling blood in the first hour, he kept them at bay. The more I see of Valencia the more I like him. In the Ecuadorian and Nani I can see genuine wing play from United for the first time in years. That is probably not the last headed Wayne Rooney goal of the season.
This is all good news if you ignore the fact that Arsenal are playing like gods at the moment. I hope the Wigan result acts as a confidence booster because we will need to up our game considerably.
After the Gunners we are playing league leaders Tottenham and the evil empire from across town. The time for tentative introductions is over and the season proper starts now. But not for most of our first choice defence. That basking light is looking a little dimmer right now, back to crossing fingers it is then.
Follow Mark at thedevilinme.co.uk or on Twitter@markjpayne
Photography from Bootload at FlickrComs
Some Ashes jokes for you: Most of them pretty average
Q: What is the main function of the Australia coach?
A:To transport the team from the hotel to the ground.
Q: What do you call an Australian with a champagne bottle in his hand?
A:A waiter.
Q: Who spends the most time on the crease of anyone in the Australian team?
A:The woman who ironed the cricket whites.
Q: Why don’t Aussie fielders need pre-tour travel injections?
A: Because they never catch anything.
Q: What’s the Aussie version of a hat trick?
A: Three runs in three balls.
Q: What do Aussie batsmen and drug addicts have in common?
A:Both spend most of their time wondering where their next score will come from.
Q: What is the most proficient form of footwork displayed by Australian batsmen?
A:The walk back to the pavilion.
Comments
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Posted by akuugbe-myers on 08/27/2009
arse who??dont worry the GOONERS have noting in their ARSENOT!!!!!1 united
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Posted by Talha ali on 08/27/2009
hey mark, nice one goin on there.... especially the jokes mate... lol
arsenal would definitely be a tough team to beat seeing that we lost to burnley... a win to wigan... lets take it as luck... the first goal did it all and destroyed them completely... arsenal are a side who push for more goals... remember that 3-2 defeat 2 seasons ago.... now we're without ronaldo... and we hav a LOT of experimenting to do with the new buys....
fingers crossed
what say??
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Posted by Shimo on 08/27/2009
Arsenal have started well that's for sure. But, even Arshavin says it, they aren't deep enough. A few setbacks and they could crumble - I think we will be the first to inflict one.
The Wigan game, we should have been 2 up minimum at half time. Fletcher pulled an Anderson and Scholesy ... well maybe he was celebrating before he scored.
The whole thing about United starting slow and getting stronger thing, well I hope it's true but, it should cease being our M.O. we need to start hot and finish blazing hot. Hopefully the Wigan game is just the start of a very hot period for us.
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Posted by kaybabagooner on 08/29/2009
Arsenal last Loss away from home in the EPL was on Nov 22 2008, and they fare well against the 'big four' in the epl..
ManU should watch out and give respect to ARSENAL.......i think Arsenal will win 3:1 at OT
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Posted by joe williams on 08/29/2009
Man.U fans better hope that Man.U don't struggle early.With the way Arsenal is playing at the start of the season and a early goal by Arsenal could cause some panic and doubt for MU.
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Posted by srks5 on 08/29/2009
well it seem the red devils have bribe their way to win by giving the match offical some thing to keep in the bank as they all now that red devils manager is of the best cry babay around when it comeas to loseing all favour the bribe way u can see that the offivcal that bald ass had not booked a singel player from red team that show how they play i pitty the english permier league as they have no back to paly the game.
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Posted by mohammed nurudini on 08/29/2009
i am very dissappointed in our style of play. i do not see any creativity,excitement and stuff like that. please do something alex ferguson.
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Posted by Juliano84 on 08/31/2009
The Arsenal test has come and gone with United grabbing the 3 points. From my point of view, I think the team is improving. The strikers need to be more lethal. I also agree that we lack creativity in the midfield. I also hope that SAF forgive Anderson and give him some playing time. We missed him most in that Arsenal match in the midfield. Next .... TOTTENHAM
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Posted by Okkie on 08/31/2009
A lucky win, but winners make their own luck
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Posted by rob on 08/31/2009
are u kidding me juliano, the team is improving?. i'm a utd supporter in every sense of the word, but i'm truly dissappointed in the way they are playin, i agree with u nuru, there's no creative in the midfield, carrick gave away more passes than myself on a sunday game, wes brown, whoa!!so many nice passes to....the gunners.only evra/fletcher/rooney impressed me.
a dubious penalty,a god-given own goal,and a very very close goal ruled out..the gods were truly smiling upon us.
they have to improve, if they continue this way against the lights of chelsea,pool,not to mention barca,real madrid,juve, they will get really really embarrased...
wake up man utd fans.....we are really not playing well despite the wins!
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Posted by Arzerouni on 08/31/2009
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only Man U fan that has realized the fact that Man U is not the team it was two years ago. Last season the gods were generous to us like they usually are and they were generous again during the Arsenal game. Now the reason behind our football recession is not as clear cut as "Ronaldo's departure". Last season we were kicked off the park by Barca because they have quality central midfielders while we have decent CMs like; Carrick, Fletcher (though brilliant during the big occasions), Anderson (too young) and Scholes (too slow and old though still majestic with his passes). If the old Hargreaves does come back in december that will solve alot of problems because he is full of quality, I rate him above Lampard and Gerrard when he's at his peak. So lets pray that he does come back to full fitness and stays there. but you can't put your hopes on a player that is not playing so, I can't believe that Sir Alex did not pay 15mil for Sneijder. Why SAF?
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Posted by Arzerouni on 08/31/2009
As for our wingers, they are good but simply not comparable to Barca's Messi-Henri or Real's Ronaldo-Kaka(well I guess he will play on the wing or I just don't get what Real's team going to look with so much attacking talent) or Inter's Quaresma-Stankovic-sneijder,etc...or Arsenal's Arshavin-walcott, and many more teams that simply have better wingers than our Valencia-Nani combination. I think my previous point about the quality of Clichy and Sagna was validated by the performance of our own wingers against the Arsenal sidebacks. Valencia was woeful while Nani only produced after we were ahead and Arsenal was chasing the game. Thus this leaves us with a sour reality which is, we need to spend to compete for the Champions League and the league will simply be an uphill battle with the current starting eleven. However, not all is doom for Man Utd, we have 3 of the best defenders in the world in Vidic, Rio and Evra, a great but ageing keeper in VSar and the legendesque class of Giggsy.
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Posted by macharia gath on 08/31/2009
i dont care a win is a win manu juu
fletcher was the man of the match
but i wish owen could have been introduced than berbatov
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Posted by Arzerouni on 08/31/2009
Oh one last source of inspiration for Man U fans, we also have the "humble" talent of Rooooooooney. As long as we have the hungriest player on the planet today in Rooney, we can't stop dreaming of glory. I've said it before and I say it now, this season we will go as far as rooney takes us, and as long as Rooney stays with the Red Devils for life, we will always have a chance to win titles, because he is simply magnificent-godly. I have always been a fan of gladiators such as, Schmeichel, Keane, Gattusso, Cantona and Maldini. Players that personify greatness and demonstrate all that the game should be about. And amongst the new generation of football talents, Rooney is the only one that embodies the never-die mentality and the passsion-heart that simply is greater than pure technical ability. Ronaldo, Messi and Kaka might be flashy and entertaining, but they lack the passion and conviction of Rooney (soon to be the best player on the planet).
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Posted by Eddie G. on 09/01/2009
Lol Rob, no point telling us fans to wake up. It's the players who need that message! Worrying times indeed, although I'd like to accredit this to United's traditional "slow start to the season". :P
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Posted by Abdallah on 09/01/2009
SAF,y nt bringing Sneijder 2 OT?
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Posted by David L on 09/01/2009
Man U has to face reality. The midfield will lose us the premier crown this season and see us exit the CL at the group stage. The football that is playing now requires pace and experience. Giggs has experience, no pace, Carrick lacks experience and pace. He is the first player on the pitch to panick, gives away the ball almost always, hides by Rio or the other defenders, is unable to take control of the match like a midfielder. Fletcher played well in the arsenal match but is that the only match for this season? He lacks creativity and self confidence and plays too many fouls (wont be lucky always with refs. Anderson gets tired too easily, sloppy passes but at least has some self confidence and can push the play. Owen Hagreaves will not play this season, I will bet my money on it. Good old Scholes, highly experienced, accurate passes, but how long can he play for - thirty minutes? SAF needs to buy a midfielder otherwise bye bye EPL and CL trophies for this season.
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Posted by Driver8 on 09/02/2009
Arzerouni - I'm totally backing your post regarding the tenacity and the pure give all mentality that Rooney gives us. The Red Devil Bulldog is just what he is and the guy will NEVER give in. That type of player and leader on this team will keep the Man U tradition as successful as ever. The last three years were fun. Now its time to go to work and make sure the rest of the EPL knows that we are not going down without a fight. Gotta beat the champs to be the champs! Glory Glory Man Utd
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About
Mark Payne is a freelance journalist and general football obsessive. He has written for a host of travel, business and lifestyle publications and has also contributed to some second-rate TV shows.
His constant United ramblings can be found at www.thedevilinme.co.uk and he can be contacted for football discussion at any time via markpayne.editor@hotmail.com.
He thinks Clayton Blackmore was underrated.
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