Ras' Football World

Manchester United's season ended valiantly in defeat last Saturday to our neighbours, Manchester City who have also taken over us now as the leading team in the city and the land. Let me present to you, my analysis of United's season. In the English Premier League, our season didn't start well. Like the previous Dutch manager we had, Louis Van Gaal, we followed up a pre-season campaign that raised the hopes of many followers, with a whimpering start to the season - a 1-2 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. Same result and the same venue as the defeat that was inflicted in Van Gaal's first competitive match in charge. A week after, things were to get worse as we slumped to a 4-0 defeat away to Brentford, losing all 4 goals in the first half. There were fears that nothing has changed from the horrendous previous season but thankfully, that was not the case. However, inconsistency still plagues Manchester United. We have looked imperious at home, the first-day de...

I have not posted anything about Manchester United aside from the calamitous start to the season. Since then my thoughts have been limited to Twitter with short tweets on how I felt the match went. Finally, after 6 years, Manchester United have a trophy to celebrate. In that period, we have lost 2 Cup finals, the FA Cup in 2017-18 under Jose Mourinho and the UEFA Europa League in 2020-21 under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.   The opponents in the final brought back memories of the historic FA Cup final win in 1999 when we clinched our second trophy on the way to the Treble. I felt at that time, the real final was played in the semi-final against Arsenal and it was just a formality against Newcastle. My favourite memory of a Wembley meeting against Newcastle came in the 1996 Charity Shield when United hammered our then-title rivals 4-0. Newcastle was at that time a very strong team. Going into this final against Newcastle, it didn't feel like a formality because I felt this Newcastle te...

After winning the Supercoppa, I had written an article that the triumph merely covered the cracks that are emerging. In the aftermath of that triumph, news has emerged that Milan Skriniar will not be extending his contract and would thus be allowed to leave on a free transfer in the summer. It is a huge loss for Inter and their management as they would have got a big fee for selling him in the previous summer. Not to mention, the status of being an indispensable member of the team and a fan favourite. Like many Inter fans, I was troubled to hear the rumour of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)'s interest in him. I prayed the deal will not take place and Inter would get him to extend his contract just as our directors, Beppe Marotta and Piero Ausilio thought would be the case.  Just before the game, Skriniar's agent conducted an interview stating that Inter was looking to cash in on him in the summer and they rejected Inter's contract offer as it didn't meet their financial reque...

Juventus was handed a 15 points deduction by an Italian soccer court on Friday. I read about a possible 9-point deduction a prosecutor had requested before I slept that day. I woke up to the news that they have been deducted 15 points but I felt indifferent about it. I am not a Juventus fan, far from it. They are my arch-nemesis but then again in Serie A, you either support Juventus or hate them. There is no in-between when it comes to Juventus.  Juventus fans feel that rival fans and the Italian football authorities are jealous of their success thus this sentiment of love or hate and no in-between. If you speak to Juventus fans about this episode or Calciopoli in 2006, they will paint themselves as the victims and point out why others aren't punished as severely as them. The world of Serie A is full of conspiracy theories. Many times when favourable decisions have gone in favour of Juventus, their rivals have said that the referees have either been bought by Juventus or favour Juv...

Inter swept past Milan 3-0 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to retain the Supercoppa Italiana. I couldn't watch the match as it wasn't shown "live" in Singapore. It is always great to win a derby in this fashion but the feeling is lost when you don't actually watch the match. We have continued the trend of winning trophies in consecutive seasons which is an excellent habit to cultivate and this victory has proved that there is no doubt that Inter can beat anyone in a one-off match.  However, this victory just papers over growing cracks at Inter. When I see the club President, Steven Zhang get involved in the trophy celebrations, I feel he is not embarrassed. To be honest, his involvement looks a bit awkward as well. The squad is increasingly heading towards degeneration as the best players are slowly getting picked apart and replaced by ageing players. We know the reason why this is the case - the club is broke and they have to sell to invest in the team. The 30-something-...

The business Inter does in the January transfer market will give us an indication of the ambition of the club and what kind of season we are expected to have. I am not keeping my hopes high though because we are well aware that our owners, the Suning Group are broke and would need to sell someone to be able to reinvest in the team. It's not a healthy situation to be in for the club.  In the summer, Inter sort of put all the eggs into one basket and went out of their way to sign Romelu Lukaku on loan (on loan, not even a permanent transfer). This signing coupled with the failure to sell anyone for a big fee meant that Inter had to sacrifice on the signing of Gleison Bremer and Paulo Dybala despite being favourites to sign both players. Six months on, this risk has not paid off. Inter probably thought they were getting the Lukaku that left Inter for Chelsea but the reality was very different as Inter got the Lukaku they go when they signed him from Manchester United. The difference i...