Ras' Football World

There is a very familiar pattern that has developed in Manchester United’s big matches this season. In terms of selection, I could predict who would be selected and how we will line-up. I wasn’t wrong. The only surprise was Edinson Cavani was selected to start over Anthony Martial. I expected a scoreless draw and I expected a cagey game. I was in two minds on whether to watch this match or not but the fan in me lived in hope. Hope that we will finally produce a good performance and win. But the romantic in me lost to the pragmatist again. Good Record Last Season Against Big Teams United’s track record against the big teams this season is abysmal. Last season, we had a good record in big matches, beat Chelsea three out of four of our encounters, the same for Manchester City, drew against Liverpool once and lost the other time no shame there against the would-be champions, the same against Arsenal which was the biggest disappointment because they were an average side and we beat Totten...

 Ever since Manchester United reached the summit of the English Premier League, I have exercised caution against getting my hopes up. The main reason for my caution was that I wasn’t convinced that we were the real deal to be able to sustain that position for long. I want the team to convince me on the pitch and answer my doubts. We were going fine until we slipped on an unseen banana skin and landed on our bum with a 2-1 defeat at home against Sheffield United. It was the Blades first win at Old Trafford since 1973 and they were the first-ever Yorkshire club to win at Old Trafford in the Premier League.  The humiliation was compounded by the fact that we lost to a team that statistically is the worst in the history of the Premier League after 20 games. Fruitless Possession We started the game with utter dominance of possession but nothing to show for it. The one attempt that we fashioned out was put wide by Marcus Rashford. In tight games such as this when the opponent is s...

It’s been three agonising years since Manchester United last beat Liverpool. Since then, Liverpool has been champions of Europe, the world and England in that order. United fans have had to tolerate the banter from Liverpool fans who have discreetly or blatantly rubbed their glee in our faces. Begrudgingly, we have had to acknowledge the greatness of this Liverpool team and it has hurt us every time to see them sweep all before them while we become mere spectators. Thus, it was sweet to finally break the duck and beat our arch-nemesis early on Sunday morning. But the bigger picture…..before I get to the bigger picture, let me look back at the game. It was United’s first win against a big team this season. Ironically, it was achieved after Ole Gunnar Solksjaer released the shackles tactically, the first time since the mauling against Tottenham Hotspur. I felt the game was evenly contested, both teams had spells of pressure and dominance. Both teams looked susceptible in defence and at...

Inter missed the opportunity to go joint-top with AC Milan and be crowned Winter Champions, not that it means much to be Winter Champions anyways. Missed opportunities are the best way to describe this 0-0 draw against Udinese at the Dacia Arena. I knew Udinese were going to be tricky opponents for us. I expected them to sit back and make themselves tough to break down and they proved my judgement right. Not only was it tough to find a way past their defence in terms of their organisation and quantity, but they were also robust and physical. A Game We Should Have Won Udinese have saved their best performances for when they played big teams, beating Lazio, narrowly losing to Napoli to a last-minute goal and holding Atalanta to a draw in midweek. We were going into this match with a whole week to prepare after the high of beating Juventus in the Derby D’Italia on home turf. Logically and based on form, we should have beaten them, but football can be unpredictable. Lu-La Not Firing On...

Leicester City went top and then it was the turn of Manchester City. The gauntlet was thrown down to Manchester United. Can they match that? I say we did well to show character and mentality to match that. Shocking Start Playing Fulham at Craven Cottage always brings back memories of some narrow 3-2s when they just got promoted into the Premier League and a season before that. Also a very significant hard-fought 2-1 win on our way to the league title in 2006-07. We got off to a horrible start in our latest encounter. Fulham needed all of five minutes to take the lead. Like the United players, I thought Ademola Lookman was offside for the goal but to my astonishment, it wasn’t reviewed and disallowed on VAR. As it turns out, it was just a bad goal to concede. They caught us napping. Strong Response But Disjointed Attack On the hindsight, it was a good time to concede because it woke us up and we started battling with them for the ball. Slowly, we got more control of the game. While ...

A day has passed since Inter’s victory in the Derby D’Italia at San Siro. The timing of this article is not deliberate to be a day late rather it’s dictated by my availability. Winless Run Is Over The last time Inter beat Juventus was in 2016 under Frank De Boer’s doomed reign no less. Since then, we have not beaten them. We came close on at least one occasion but we haven’t done the needful. This win is also the first one since the Treble season that we beat them without conceding. Poor Record In Big Matches & Against Juventus The manner with which this victory was achieved was pleasing. Matches of this magnitude against big teams and more so against our bitter rivals, have to be won. How we play to achieve victory is secondary. Going into this match, besides our recent record in the Derby D’Italia, we have not had a good time in big matches this season. We have only had one victory, a slender 1-0 win over Napoli at the San Siro. We have drawn three of those games after ta...

Pre-match, I refrained from looking at social media and managed to squeeze in two hours of sleep. Liverpool-Manchester United matches have always been matches that are keenly and intensely felt. A defeat will deflate you for days while a victory will see one float in the clouds. Such is the following both these clubs enjoy miles away from their native lands that the rivalry is as intense here as it is there. Not to forget the banter the losing side has to suffer from the opposing fans at work, in school or social media in the days to come. Pessimism Approaching The Match I was afraid of our chances going into this match because Liverpool are the top dogs now. They have been enjoying great success for the last two years, playing well and winning major trophies. More than their obvious quality, I was afraid of the bad karma we were attracting from our delirious support after going top in midweek. I predicted a draw or a Liverpool win. The other reason for my pessimism is our poor rec...

 The following is my analysis and observation on what makes a league-winning team regardless of league: 1.         A team that identifies, fully believes in the manager’s style of play and strategy and is successful in its implementation. Not every champion team plays attacking football with lots of possession or high pressing. There are teams that prefer to play on the counter-attack or are hard to break down. Some teams are tactical chameleons, able to switch from one formation to another seamlessly to nullify the opponents. Whatever the style, the team knows what to do on the football pitch and gets the results they need. A team that is in complete control on the pitch. 2.        A consistent team. There might be the odd defeat or draw or two but the winless run normally doesn’t stretch more than one or two matches. For most parts of the season, the team wins matches. 3.        A resilient team...

Manchester United climbed to the top of the English Premier League in January for the first time since 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season at the club. We did it the hard way in a highly, competitive match at Turf Moor against Burnley, coming out 1-0 winners. Matching Burnley Style & Approach It was expected that this match would be physical from Burnley’s playing style. We had to match the physicality and energy and cope with the directness of their play. We did a good job on both accounts. Throughout the game, I don’t remember Burnley getting close to scoring or posing a significant threat. Eric Bailly had another immense performance at centre back alongside captain, Harry Maguire. In front of them, the presence on Nemanja Matic provided additional cover. If there was a weak point, I would think it would have been our right-back spot but Aaron Wan-Bissaka did the best he could to at least put in a challenge for the long balls that came his way. Man Of The Match, Pogba Next ...

On the eve of AS Roma vs Inter, I was wondering when was the last time Inter beat Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. I couldn’t remember and there wasn’t any information readily available on the Internet. The answer to that after some research is a 3-1 win at Stadio Olimpico in the 2017-18 season. Roma and Inter played out a 2-2 draw, a mirror of the result from the same fixture last season. Slow Start & Missed Chances We got off to a poor start in the game. We were sloppy in possession, giving the ball away cheaply and getting caught in possession. But despite being slow off the blocks, we had the chances to take the lead. Romelu Lukaku had a header saved from point-blank range by Pau Lopez and he was presented with a great opportunity but was too slow to get the shot off. His shot was blocked by his former team-mate, Chris Smalling. It was frustrating because they were two gilt-edged chances to take the lead in a big game but we squandered them. Statue Handa When it came to getting...

Manchester United squeezed into the 4 th Round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Watford at Old Trafford. The scoreline and the match should have been more comfortable but we made it nervy for ourselves. Strong Start As expected, we made a lot of changes to the starting line-up. We would have expected a disjointed start for a starting line-up that hasn’t played together. But I was surprised to see a sharp, smooth and dominant start. We played with a lot of verve and some pleasant interplay. We took a deserved lead through the captain of the day, Scott McTominay, heading in a corner. We were peppering the Watford goal with shots and kept them consigned in their half for the first 15-20 minutes. In the first half, we should have gone into the half-time break with a 3-0 lead such was our dominance. Eric Bailly missed with a free header from a corner but the pick of the misses was Juan Mata’s at the end of a flowing move. There was the hunger and drive in the players that have played sp...

There is some symmetry between this season’s Carabao Cup campaign and last season from a personal capacity as a fan. In both seasons, I didn’t watch any match until the semi-final. In the semi-final, we met Manchester City at Old Trafford. It was a two-legged tie last season but a one-legged one this season. Last season, City tore us to shreds in the first half and I switched off the TV at half-time. This season, they beat us deservedly and I switched it off with seven minutes left. False Belief With the quality and strength of City, it was always possible that they could beat us. I was lulled into a false belief that we could beat them after the draw we had against them at the same venue. It was also fueled by City’s below-par performances this season. As a fan, I will always believe in the team getting a positive result like I did last season at the same stage. But I was left mightily disappointed at the defeat and performance. Even First Half The first half was decidedly even....

The curse of January has reared its ugly head in the second match week of the month. There were at least three members of Sampdoria with past connections to Inter. Manager Claudio Ranieri managed us in the 2011-12 season, inheriting it from Gian Piero Gasperini and getting sacked before the season ended. Antonio Candreva, the scorer of the first goal is on loan from Inter and Keita Balde Diao, on loan at Inter for the 2018-19 season, scored the second goal. Wasteful Finishing Part of the reason for Inter’s early and disappointing exit from Europe would have to be because of our profligacy. We might be the top scorers in Italy this season but that profligate streak came back to sting us in this match. We started the match brightly and were creating chances to score. Ashley Young forced Emil Audero into a save and Milan Skriniar placed his shot just wide. We received a lifeline from the referee when he awarded us a penalty for a handball in the box. It was soft because it looked uninte...

After days of shuttling between the hospital and home, I finally found some time to settle down and look back at Inter’s first game of 2021. Poor Start January has traditionally been a dark period for Inter, one that normally breaks a season. Therefore, when Crotone took the lead, flashbacks of January past came flooding back. It was a soft goal to concede, Junior Messias had all the time in the world to float in a cross from a short corner and Nicollo Zanellato had so much space to nod in the opening goal. Over-The-Hill Vidal Arturo Vidal has not covered himself in glory since signing for Inter. It is not the Vidal we were used to seeing at Juventus and Bayern Munich, he looks off the pace and over-the-hill. The justification to sign him as he would bring experience and winning mentality to the team has not been true. He has cost Inter points but he has played decently well too sparingly. In this match, we saw the good and the bad of Vidal. First, he was instrumental in winning th...

It’s been a difficult start to the year for me on a personal note. As I sit to write this, I think to myself, I don’t actually have much to say on Manchester United’s win over Aston Villa on New Year’s Day. But I do know that when I start listing my thoughts, it could get lengthy. Open & Even Game Edged By United I felt the match was open and even. We had more attempts on goal and more shots on target than Villa in the first half. That was also made possible by Villa’s stance to take the game to us rather than sitting back and looking to hit on the break. It wasn’t the smoothest of attacking displays but I felt we could have done better in the final third. The goal we did score came through an unlikely source, an Aaron Wan Bissaka cross. He has got a lot of criticism, justified I feel, for his attacking displays but this time, he delivered an inch-perfect cross that was just missed by Tyrone Mings and nodded in by Anthony Martial. The goal Martial scored showed the predatory inst...