Preseason has gone quite well, although in my opinion last years seemed to have more of our “big guns” firing on all cylinders or there about, where as this season it has been mainly the younger players being blooded.

So far the players that have caught my eye are Berbatov: his touch is still excellent, and his goal against Celtic was exceptional; Obertan: his pace is going to be a weapon this season, but his finishing needs work; Welbeck: one of his crosses in the Kansas game was superb, outside of the foot, too bad Macheda was not ready, again pace and crossing will be his weapons. Scholes: still passing like a magician at 35 years old. Diouf: looks like a good hold up player, with bags of pace and power.

I won’t go into a match by match detail, but the Celtic game was against a team in relative similar fitness, and we did well. The Philadelphia game was against the MLS new boys and they played well, but our eventual talent overthrew them. The Kansas City game was tough, and I could have sworn their first goal was offside despite Rafael’s positioning, but there you go. The young lads can’t finish right now, but come September/October they will be letting fly with a deadlier accuracy.

The next game against the MLS All-Stars should be great, and as Giggs alluded to; no Premier League team has beaten them as of yet; so I would like that to change and also see some more of our starters playing for next season. The defensive line against Kansas City was very young: De Laet (21), Smalling (20), Evans (22), Rafael (20). So we’ll see, and the Diouf with Berbatov lineup seems common, so lets get Welbeck out to start with the Bulgarian.

On a side note, my MUTV subscription has been a complete waste of money. The first game they took to long to process my application, so it did not work. The second game was geo-blocked for 172* IP addresses, when they are in Canada and it was supposed to be for Hong Kong/Malaysia only. And the same applied for the last game against Kansas. Lucky for me there are plenty of streams and having already paid I don’t feel guilty. Yet, seriously why are they pushing a paying fan to this method? Get with it MUTV!

The season ended with Manchester United one point behind rivals Chelsea. It was almost a certainty that Chelsea were not going to loose at home, but we gave it a good run in the end. When you think about the Burnley loss, and the Blackburn tie (the results that most stand out in my mind this season), you can see just how close we were to retaining the crown for the fourth season.

I look forward to some new prospects in regards to an attacking midfielder, and perhaps a new striker. In reality there are not a lot of areas that we need to add to, more depth than anything and with a mindful eye that we have people returning from injury come August (Anderson, Hargreaves, O’Shea, Owen) as well as a few new young signings (Hernandez, Smalling).

This could be the season where some of our younger prospects take up the mantle from Scholes, Giggs, and Neville who are most definitely getting to the end of their illustrious careers.

The preseason looks to be heading out my way in North America, but Toronto is too far and pricey for me to go and watch them. The game we went to in Seattle was great, but it was on someone else’s budget. I hope to go see an Old Trafford game next season, albeit dependant on how the economy and my finances go.

Thanks United for another thrilling season, and look here for updates on signings and preseason games (as I will be watching each and every one).

The end to the season was quite steady but it all went wrong with the loss at Bayern, the loss to Chelsea, the win but red card loss to Bayern, and the tie to Blackburn. Those four games effectively wrenched a Champions League final and a Premier League crown from our waiting scalp. We could still clinch the title, albeit the odds are stacked firmly against us. That is what being a fan is all about though, expecting delivery until the final moment, and no-one can question a United supporter on last minute heroics.

United 3 - Spurs 1

The same result as the game where Paul Scholes was sent off. It seems as though Spurs cannot get over their lack of ability to take on United at home, to which I am eternally gateful. Depiste them doing the business over Arsenal and Chelsea, we were a mountain to far. Too be fair, that is a tough run of games and it is hard to get points from all of them.

The first goal was from a penalty brought from a delightful flick from Berbatov to an on-rushing Evra. It was clear as day, and Giggs dispatched his (amazingly enough) first penalty in the Premier League. King rose above the defense to knock a goal home; and I was furious to see Rafael walking away from his far post duties and desperately attempting to hook the ball away.

If he had stayed, he would have got it. Luckily we got the goals back, but if not he could of effectively put the nail in both a Champions League campaign and a Premier League campaign within a 3 week period. The boy needs to get better. The second goal was a deft chip by the in-form Nani over the on-rushing Gomes. Macheda did well to setup the ball for Nani, and I am hoping Macheda gets more games next season. The final was another penlaty by a Palacious foul, which Giggs dispatched again.

Sunderland 0 - United 1

The game of the North was tense, yet to be fair United should have been up about 4-0 by midway through the second half. The commentator was being harsh on Berbatov, spouting that he was on his way out with the chances he had missed that “summed up his season&Rdquo;. So as this game was rather boring, with Nani scoring a good build up goal, I will instead target this ridiculous comment about Berbatov and his season, and just for fun his overall United contribution since 2008.

Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar joined United in the 2008/09 season after playing one substition role for Tottenham. He palyed 32 games for us, used twice as a sub. In the 2009/10 season he played 32 games for us (perhaps one more on Sunday) and nine as subsititutes. This tells the story of Wayne Rooney’s form, rather than Berbatovs (in terms of increased substitute use).

Despite the increased substitution, and ongoing ankle injury, Berbatov has scored 3 more goals then last season. A good player to measure Berbatov (for obvious reasons) is Tevez, who has been playing in the Premier League since 2006, the same as Berbatov. Here are the side by side statistics:

Tevez

Berbatov

What can be drawn from this?

1. Berbatov and Tevez have scored the exact same amount of goals since they began their career in England, 48. This is mainly down to Tevez’s break-out season at Man City this term, totalling 48% of his total.
2. Before 2009/10 Tevez was averaging 8.6 goals per season. Before 2009/10 Berbatov was averaging 12, the same has his total this season.
3. Tevez has had an outstanding goal ratio this season, of 0.68 compared to his 0.17 of last season. Berbatov has a ratio of 0.375, much better than his 0.28 of last season.
4. When Tevez was in the team for Man City this term, they WON 17, TIED 10, LOST 7. When Berbatov was in the team for Man United this term, they WON 23, TIED 3, LOST 6. A resoundingly better statistic.
5. Berbatov has a higher shot/goal ratio over his English career, as well as shot on target ratio.
6. Although Tevez complained about being on the bench at United too much, and not playing enough games, he has only played 5 games more at City this term. Berbatov has been substituted 9 times, only 2 less than Tevez’s last season with United.
7. Where Tevez scored 5 goals for United during last season while being a part of 29 games (0.17), Berbatov has scored 12 while being a part of 32 games (0.375).

I’m not writing this to make out that Tevez has not been in better form this season. I am simply comparing the difference in the media perception that Tevez is such a wonderful asset, and Fergie shouldn’t have sold him, and Berbatov was a waste of money. City paid the exact same for Tevez, and he has proven this season to had a great run. However, when Tevez was at United he was well below Berbatov, and that is why it was good business to get rid of him when we did. He was not worth 30M to us.

Whether Berbatov has been worth the money is debatable, but to say he has had some kind of terrible season is not well founded or well researched.

Next Week

Well obviously this Sunday is the last game of the season. If Wigan can tie or beat Chelsea, then the title is ours, if not we will have to wait and rebuild. As Fergie has put it, we don’t need massive reconstruction at all. An attacking midfielder, some cover for defense, and a prolific all-out striker. Those three things should be fine. I would even hazard getting a play-maker over an all-out-attacking-mid. Either way, we need more goals from midfield.

The past week and half was hard to take, and perhaps that is why it took me longer to compile this blog. But with the events of the weekend spurring my hands to type, I find the hope has made it much easier. It started with a loss to Chelsea at home, a 2-1 result that was helped by a poor offside call by the linesman but I’ve already covered that in my last post. The Bayern game started well, but we crashed out on away goals. And finally that 0-0 draw at Blackburn. Yet last weekend changed it all!

United 3 - Bayern 2

Despite the reflective score line, we still managed to crash out of Europe in a tie that should of guaranteed us a third consecutive final. It is not a slap to Bayern, its just a paper perspective. The German’s have not made it this far for many years, and United have been consistent. Even more to consider is that we carried the away game for most of the period, until a deflected free-kick and some shoddy last minute defending lost it for us.

The second leg was controlled by United easily, with us being 3-0 up just before the break. A slip-up by Carrick allowed Olic to get one back, but it was the sending-off for Rafael that truly turned the tie. Ferguson then tried to stifle the Germans, and if it was not for a splendid volley from the dive-a-lot Robben, it would have worked. I think the decision to send-off Rafael was poor, regardless of what the Bayern coach may think. There is no need to issue a second yellow in the middle of the park for the slightest of tugs. That is where referees need to show some discretion to the rule-book, not be robots!

Blackburn 0 - United 0

The result seemed more and more likely as the minutes agonizingly ticked by. The game was controlled by United as far as possession went, with a few chances coming to Blackburn via their aerial threat. A few chances were squandered and with a team that is managed by Sam Alladyce you know that the defensive portion of the pitch will be well-drilled and there will be a physical presence that must be worn down.

Valencia got an earful as the by-far best chance fell to him with a great through ball which he blasted straight at Paul Robinson. It was an opportunity wasted.

City 0 - United 1

The match was pulsating to start, and became increasingly boring as the minutes rolled by. Both teams were defending resolutely, which is an earmark of the Italians ability at City. They had a poor defense under previous bosses, but to be fair seemed to get more positive results. City was reduced to one chance that sticks out, which was the Tevez free kick that Van Der Sar saved neatly at the far corner. Other than that, they were stopped very well, and made very few in-roads.

Posession was close the whole match, and Rooney should have scored when the ball fell to him in the box, but instead he shot wide. Giggs also had a great chance and if he had used the right foot (literally) it would have been a goal rather than petering over to Shae Given without venom.

Yet we were lucky that the old-men were playing so well in this game, as a delightful passing move that United failed to set aside throughout the dying moments led to a cross from Evra that was expertly nodded into the far corner by Scholes. It led to delirium by the fans and myself, and literally began to make me believe the impossible. I urged Spurs on almost as if I was a fan myself (my Aunt from Harpenden would have been proud). And they did not let us down, a win, and Terry sent off!

Next Week

A big game against the “Big Four Buster”, Spurs, is next up. They have beaten Arsenal and Chelsea in the past two games; however they have a terrible record against us at Old Trafford. I think we understand they style of play and if we can keep their wingers under wraps (which I presume will be Bale and Lennon, if he recovers) then we should be able to take it. I doubt Chelsea will slip-up against Stoke but you never know. The more likely is the Liverpool away game, and wouldn’t that be hilarious! Liverpool to win us the title!