Ras' Football World

 The dust has settled fully by now on the 174 th Milan Derby played on Sunday. It was the first time since 2011, that Inter and Milan played in a derby that was billed as a top-of-the-table clash. A decade is a long time for clubs of this stature and prestige to be away from challenging for major honours. The match a decade ago didn’t hold any fond memories for me. Milan won that match 3-0 on their way to winning their 18 th Scudetti, levelling it with us. We went on to win the Coppa Italia in that season. Coincidentally, for both teams, it was the last piece of major silverware either team could savour. Milan did win the Supercoppa Italiana a season after though. Revenge for 2011 With that match in my memory as well as the outcome from the previous derby in Serie A, I approached this match nervous about its outcome. I hope Inter would not let me down and would make good use of having a full week without any matches to be fully prepared for this match. As it turned out, the t...

After Juventus and Milan’s defeats on Saturday, Inter fans were immediately sceptical at our chances of beating Lazio and going to the top of Serie A. Such has been the deception suffered by fans that they were suspicious of their team’s chances to capitalise on the failings of our rivals. For a change, Inter didn’t disappoint. They beat Lazio 3-1 to go to the top of Serie A ahead of one of the most eagerly anticipated Milan derbies of the last decade. It is possibly THE most highly-charged Milan derby of the decade but before that, let’s look at the encounter against Lazio. Superior Start By Lazio Lazio had a week to prepare for this match while we had a tense Coppa Italia semi-final, second leg against Juventus to contend with. The Biancocelesti was also going into this match extremely confident having won 6 games in a row and that confidence was seen on the pitch. They were passing the ball about well, pressing us back, trying to find a way past our defence. I felt we could be i...

I wrote a draft and deleted it because I felt there were too many words and I wanted to keep my thoughts concise. The sentiments of Manchester United fans have mirrored the performance of the team on the pitch. Like the team has oscillated from producing the sublime to disaster, the fans have swung like a pendulum from the highest high to the lowest low. In all of this, I have just kept things balanced, not convinced that this team has what it takes yet to ensure we experience the heights that we were used to in the past. I have always felt that the team was unpredictable and my thoughts were vindicated again in the 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion. Messed Up On paper, this is what you would describe as a bread and butter match, one any serious title contender would win. But we didn’t and that makes it two matches out of the last five Premier League matches that United have dropped points against teams in the bottom three. I didn’t notice it at that time but West Bromwich has al...

Manchester United 4 Everton 4, 2011-12 season. The draw that made the difference in the season which was decided by the narrowest of margins, goal difference. It was another high-scoring draw in this morning’s encounter between these two teams. The circumstances have changed since the previous high-scoring encounter at Old Trafford. United are involved in a title-race but unlike in 2011-12 where they were the favourites, they are underdogs this time. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back Rut Also unlike that season, I don’t think this draw would have a detrimental effect on our chances in winning the league title and that is because I am sure this United team will drop more points this season. This is a team that is perennially stuck in a one step forward, two steps back rut which makes it unreliable and also unpredictable. This United brings you exhilarating joy and hair-tearing frustration in equal measure. Some mornings you wake up feeling on top of the world and some other mornings ...

It’s not often that Inter records a routine win. After all, we are not known as “Pazza Inter” for nothing. This win against Fiorentina away at Stadio Artemio Franchi is impressive for a couple of reasons. One, it came after only 2 days of rest after our midweek Coppa Italia semi-final, first-leg against Juventus. Second, we have not beaten La Viola in Florence since 2014. Strong & Sharp Start To The Game We got off to a great start in this match, we were sharp and incisive in our attacks. Nicolo Barella made the wrong decision with his cut-back and then his shot was saved impressively by Bartlomiej Dragowski. It looked odds on that he would score. In another attack, Alexis Sanchez’s drag-back missed everyone in a white shirt in the box. It looked like we were going to struggle to break them down until Barella scored a goal of great individual quality, curling a shot from outside the box into the bottom corner of the net. Poor Response To Taking The Lead Our response to taking t...

Manchester United 9 Ipswich Town 0. I was already a fan at that time in 1995. It was a result that blew my mind. Andy Cole didn’t make the sharpest start to life as a Manchester United player and he scored five in that one game. This game took place in the aftermath of the infamous Eric Cantona Kungfu kick so the talismanic Frenchman was suspended. It was also a season that didn’t have a pleasant ending as we lost the league on the final day by one point and then proceeded to lose the FA Cup final to Everton by a single goal. That was 26 years ago and how time has flown by. Unimaginable Matching Of Record I would never have imagined that 26 years after, we would match that record against a good Southampton team at Old Trafford at a time when the club isn’t at the peak of its powers. Southampton was going into this game on a poor run of form and missing several players through injury. That normally means one point or three for the away side at Old Trafford for the modern-day United. T...