Ras' Football World

If you are Ole In or Out, this article will not convince you to think otherwise. That is not what the purpose of this article is. I recognise that whichever side of the fence you sit on, you are convinced why you should be where you are. It’s a shame that fans of a club are split like that but most importantly, everyone should always be Manchester United In. Big Relief Win For that reason, we should enjoy United’s convincing 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. After some poor performances that culminated in a humiliating defeat to our arch-rivals, Liverpool, having our faces rubbed in mud by their supporters and turmoil around the future of our manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, this should be a welcome relief and departure from the doom and gloom. Safety-First Approach In the days leading up to the match, I was joking that players who were clearly so poor and off-form like Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay and Fred will start this match and true enough they did. It...

Inter’s win over Juventus last season was seen as one of the most important results of the season as it gave the team belief in their quest for the Scudetto. The reunion of their hostilities this time came a bit early in the season but for both teams, it was vital to pick up three points as they try and keep pace with Milan and Napoli on top. There was also a matter of pride to play for as always when these two teams meet. Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci stoked the flames pre-game by suggesting that Inter’s Scudetto win last season owed more to his team’s mistakes rather than the merit of Inter. There wasn’t much of a response from the Inter camp, but I am sure they wanted to prove him wrong on the pitch. Right Tactics After being involved in some open matches this season, I felt tactically Inter and Simone Inzaghi were set up well to neutralise Juventus and dominate the game. The only pity is that Inter didn’t create enough chances to capitalise on the dominance. The goal we scored was t...

 I cast my mind back to 2008-09, we were playing against Liverpool in a top-of-the-table clash and took an early lead through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. At the time, I had a flashback of similar kind of clash between these two teams in the 2002-03 season and that match ended in a 4-0 rout. What transpired on that day in 2008-09 was beyond my wildest imagination. It was a collapse that left me depressed and shaken up. At that time, I was dating someone, I was so shaken and down that, I broke up with her. Real Meaning Of A Footballing Nightmare If I thought the result in 2008-09 was a nightmare then I was wrong because the true meaning of a nightmare was introduced to me last night. Paul Scholes’ prophecy after United’s 3-2 win over Atalanta held up. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer did not heed the warning signs and played the same team that started the match against Atalanta and United were taken to the cleaners by our arch-nemesis, Liverpool. Their fans were having a merry time in their e...

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer lived to see another day as a Manchester United thanks to his old team-mate, Cristiano Ronaldo. I don’t feel he would have been sacked had we lost to Atalanta early this morning, the pressure on him would have just increased. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDd7LBIprIQ Reception Of The Fans At The Stretford End Solksjaer walked out to songs sang in the adulation of him this morning and that left me puzzled. Since this slump of results, the loudest voice and most articles have been on how he is inept and incapable of leading United to glory on social media. The fan base was being forcibly divided into Ole In or Ole Out and it appeared to me that Ole Out was winning. What I saw this morning showed that the fans at Old Trafford and in the Stretford End believed in him. Manchester United fans that go to stadiums to watch United play have been very kind and patient, unlike the vitriol you see online. You would rarely hear the team being booed off the pitch or the ma...

After watching one of my teams lose in a concerning and disheartening manner, I switched to another favourite team in Serie A, Inter. They too lost but the manner of the defeat is different. Dominant Performance But Didn’t Finish It Off This season, Inter has shown remarkable character and a strong winning mentality to ride out stormy periods of a game, overturn a deficit and win it. We did it against Hellas Verona, Fiorentina and Sassuolo. Against Lazio today, it was different. Inter took the lead from the penalty spot. Arguably the penalty was a bit soft but there was some contact and it was fairly given. Ivan Perisic took it and finished well. Up until that point, the game was even and after taking the lead, Inter dominated the game. We were comfortable but we were lacking the precision to create chances to increase the lead and that was gnawing at me. I remember what happened at the Stadio Olimpico last season against Lazio where we took the lead and were comfortable until out ...

Under Pressure – that’s a song from the British rock group, Queen featuring David Bowie and that is probably what Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is feeling right now after another poor performance and result yesterday against Leicester City. One win in 5 games across all competitions for the Red Devils is not acceptable form. Manchester United’s long inconsequential run of unbeaten away matches is over and just as well I say. Inconsequential because it didn’t lead us to any silverware. The team and manager were already under pressure before the international break and this defeat has intensified that pressure on United. Midfield Pairing Not Working No matter which centre-midfield pairing the manager puts out, it is easily bypassed; Fred, Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba have all got a run in the centre of the park but no one can exert control there. In the last 5 matches, I have seen Aston Villa, Villareal, Everton and now Leicester City overrun and outplay us in midfield. Defen...

Over the years, Inter’s matches against Sassuolo have been tricky outside of two 7-0 wins for us.  The Mapei Stadium is also a tricky ground to go to. Sassuolo, traditionally have been a team that is not afraid of taking the game to their opponents regardless of who they are and they have a trademark of playing neat, tidy, short passes and have tricky players. Sloppy & Lucky First Half Inter got off to a good start and were the better team in the first 10-15 minutes before sloppiness allowed Sassuolo into the game. We kept losing the ball in our half, trying to play out from the back and that is a dangerous thing to do. Samir Handanovic has had a lot of criticism for his errors in goal but he was immense in keeping the score low. Deservedly, we conceded first and even there he nearly saved Domenico Berardi’s penalty. Milan Skriniar who has been immense in recent weeks and the Man Of The Match against Shakthar Donestk in midweek made an uncharacteristic error of bringing down ...

I used to love matches played at primetime, Singapore/Malaysia time. I remember the commentary of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray and the sun-soaked pitches. United played well and won, United played ugly and won and there were some disappointing days where we lost. Nowadays, the experience is never good. My superstition practices have been disrupted too so the overall experience has not been good. Anger & Frustration With The Starting Line-Up I got angry and frustrated when I saw the starting line-up before the game and that meme of the angry old couple on the bench - the old man sulking in one corner holding out an umbrella for his wife in the other corner comes to mind. That meme exemplified what I felt like at that time. I wasn’t surprised that Fred and Scott McTominay were back in the starting line-up because they were Solksjaer’s first-choice central midfield pairing despite what the majority of United fans think of them. Cristiano Ronaldo not starting was fine with me because t...