Ras' Football World

It’s been a week since Manchester United limped out of the FA Cup one stage before where we usually exit. After a week of studies, work and baby duty, I have found some time to assess and analyse this defeat. Lack Of Quality Not An Off-Day At full-time, I felt frustrated, disappointed and angry. But why? Why should I feel so strongly and negatively about it when I know this isn’t out of character for this Manchester United team? A defeat always stings in great times, good times or bad. In bad times, one starts feeling numb when one suffers a defeat though. I have seen United lose when they had an off-day or been over-confident but I was always confident we would bounce back from it. But those were the good, old days. For this defeat, it was so infuriating because the flaws we all know of were exposed. What made it worse was that the management would feel it’s just an off-day rather than acknowledging the flaws and lack of quality in the team. Fred, Not Good Enough To Be A Regular...

Manchester United took a leaf out of the great Serie A days and did the classic Italian job on AC Milan in Milan. We squeaked through by the narrowest of margins to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, a 1-0 win away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_dtj5iRERA Good Start To The First Half, Erratic End I felt we started the game well. On a couple of occasions, the ball into the box was just behind Mason Greenwood or Marcus Rashford. After that, we got erratic in our possession. Bruno Fernandes was one of the most wasteful players in possession. He nearly gifted a goal to Milan with a casual back pass but thankfully, Milan didn’t punish us. Fred was another who was typically poor in possession and busy chasing after his first touch. At the half-time break, I was hoping and praying for a departure from this mediocrity through the introduction of Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek. Pogba, Game Changer Paul Pogba came on but not for Fred. He came on for Marcus Rashford and I was wo...

Another ugly win, another match ticked off. That’s 2 and a half in a row now. It’s not pleasant or easy on the eye but winning ugly always bodes well for a team that is aiming to win the league. Left Off The Hook In The First Half It was a hot day at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino and Inter played at a slow tempo. Torino clammed up and sat back, looking to hit us on the counter but there weren’t many such attempts made by the home side. However, they did have the best chance of the first half when Lyanco’s header came back off the post after Alessandro Bastoni slipped. The rebound was cleared off the line by Romelu Lukaku. Torino didn’t get the break they wanted while Inter were left off the hook. LuLa Connection Arturo Vidal was missing through an injury, not that it was a loss many Inter fans cried over considering the lack of impact he has made in this team. Christian Eriksen was just recovering from an injury so he started the game on the bench. Roberto Gagliardini started inste...

Two steps forward, one step back, this is the only constant in Manchester United’s campaign. A tie that befitted the Champions League was being played out in the Europa League, a testament to the fall from grace of both clubs involved, Manchester United and AC Milan. Both teams entered this match without a full-strength squad. Half of Milan’s absentees would have been part of the starting line-up had they been fit. For United, most of our absentees were concentrated in the midfield and forward positions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oHpwt0ctHY United Takes The Lead It was Milan that had the better of the game as they made light of their injury situation. They kept possession better, passed it with urgency and showed vigour in their movement. The game started pretty evenly but Milan got more confident after they had two strikes ruled out, one for offside and another for handball that was hard to pick out from replays. VAR rescued United on that occasion. Most of United’s play was ...

Inter 1 Atalanta 0. A big, big result for us in our quest for the Scudetto but there are 12 matches left and a lot of football to be played. Six points separate us from our next closest challenger, AC Milan. Let’s look back at the game first. Analysis of Inter vs Atalanta We always knew Atalanta would provide us with stiff opposition and if we are not at our best, we could slip up and lose points. Truth be told, we were not at our best. In the opening exchanges, we worked out a good move between Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Ivan Perisic and that turned out to be a rarity. It was a game of duels. Lukaku was through on goal twice but he was denied once by Berat Djimsiti and another by Christian Romero. Both defenders had good games and Romero was particularly impressive. Robin Gosens kept Achraf Hakimi quiet. Our defenders weren’t shabby too, Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni kept Atalanta’s forwards quiet. My vote for Man Of The Match would go to Skriniar be...

Manchester is red and will always be, you better know it even if we struggle to win trophies and hit the heights we once were at. Manchester will always be known for United first. However, it’s with subdued happiness I greet Manchester United’s win over our neighbours, high-flyers, table-toppers, Manchester City. Why you may ask? That is because there is a feeling that we might have won the battle but will lose the war. It’s a feeling you can’t shrug off after one good win.  There is also the mental scarring that this team can produce this kind of stupendous performance but then alternate it in the next match with a polar opposite, horrendous display. Great Performance, Deserved Win We made a fantastic start to the match and scored within the first minute from the penalty spot. The good start lasted 10-15 minutes before Manchester City came into their own and started bossing possession. On that account, I would argue that we played better for longer in this fixture last season. A...

The two matches Inter faced after the successive big matches against Lazio and Milan were always going to be a truer test of the team’s title credentials. Inter being Inter are also known for doing well in big matches and making a mess of simpler ones. Inter vs Genoa We played against Genoa at San Siro first. Genoa was going into the game in good form but had more than an eye on their derby against Sampdoria in midweek. The starting line-up they put out would give us the confidence of winning this match but you never know in football, more so for Inter. You can never take anything for granted. We got off to a great start, Romelu Lukaku scoring with just 32 seconds on the clock. That seemed to lull us into a false sense of security as our play got a bit careless but we were unpunished. We got hold of ourselves again and started creating chances but could only go into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead. In the second half, the longer it was 1-0, the greater the danger of Genoa getti...

What is progress for you? Are statistics alone enough to suggest an improvement, the progress of a team? I don’t believe statistics alone tell the full story. I feel progress is measured by what you see on the pitch in terms of performances married to the statistics to prove that there has indeed been an improvement. Manchester United 2019–20 Manchester United 2019-20 did very well in big matches. We played some thrilling encounters, playing well and winning them deservedly. 4-0 at home to Chelsea I felt wasn’t a fair reflection of the game but the 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, 2-1 at the Etihad and 2-0 at Old Trafford against Manchester City, 2-1 at Old Trafford against Tottenham Hotspur and 1-1 against Liverpool at Old Trafford were all evidence of good, brave, positive performances. The 1-1 we had at White Hart Lane against Tottenham on the back of a strong response to going 0-1 down was also a good point gained. The exception to this being the matches against Arsenal that we underperfo...

This doesn’t happen with me often but I have just lost some interest in watching Manchester United play. I have missed two out of the three recent matches we have played in. The one I did watch was one that I regretted watching, the 0-0 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge early this morning. I fought against my drooping eyelids to soldier on for 90 minutes to watch United draw 0-0 in another big game this season. My head said that it would be another 0-0 and I shouldn’t waste my sleep on this. But my heart hoped for a rosier outcome. Playing With Handbrakes On Our performances in matches against Big 6 this season has been frustrating and a right bore. I have said this before and I am saying it again. I can trace our regression back to the 1-6 mauling by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Since then, the emphasis has been on keeping it tight at the back. It is frustrating because we play with our handbrakes on, not showing the ambition to win and that cannot be acceptable for Manc...