Ras' Football World

Southampton away has traditionally been a tough fixture for Manchester United. I remember the struggles and battles we had at The Dell under Sir Alex Ferguson. Since they moved to St. Mary’s, our results have been better but it’s been no less of a battle and struggle for us. It was the same again yesterday. Frustration There was a point in the game where I was so frustrated that I felt like punching the sofa I was sitting on or the leg rest in front of me. Mason Greenwood had a fantastic chance to give us the lead but uncharacteristically put his effort wide. Against the run of play, Southampton took the lead with their first attempt on target, a header off a corner. Greenwood had another chance, capitalising on a loose ball from Southampton’s Alex McCarthy but he shot straight at the goalkeeper. Again, I expected better from him. McCarthy did better from the rebound to save from Bruno Fernandes. Southampton then doubled the lead through a known source, James Ward-Prowse’ free-kick...

The vultures started circling around Antonio Conte. The Ultras let their feelings known to the players. Inter was in crisis after the midweek defeat to Real Madrid left us on the brink of elimination from the Champions League group stage for the third season in a row. Inter’s response to that was comprehensive. Pivotal Tactical Change I agree with Conte in his post-match comments that results change the opinion of a game. Inter has played well in other games this season but got lesser than we deserve. In terms of result and performance, this was our best performance. Sassuolo were going into this match as one of the three unbeaten teams in the league so far and have been playing very well, carrying a great attacking threat. Tactically, we were impeccable as we nullified the various attacking threats Sassuolo had. A slight tweak to the formation to dispose of the playmaker and revert to a three men central midfield with Nicolo Barella sitting in front of the defence was pivotal. A...

Today is a sombre day for the world of football. Diego Maradona, the Argentine legend passed away hours before Inter’s critical Champions League match against Real Madrid. Inter angered, frustrated and disappointed its legions of fans worldwide by imploding in that said match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9YXS78wFAA Preview We were narrowly edged out in our previous encounter with Real but the performance was promising. Had we been clinical, we might have been the victors. This is not a vintage Real Madrid team, nothing like the ones that won three consecutive Champions League titles. To make matters worse, they were without two key players, captain Sergio Ramos and main striker, Karim Benzema. These factors combined should give us confidence in getting our Champions League campaign on track with a win. Worst Performance Of The Season Instead, we produced our worst performance this season. If the 60 minutes against Torino on Sunday was bad, this was worse. While it took us ...

After a performance like what we saw this morning from Manchester United at Old Trafford against Istanbul Basaksehir, there isn’t much to write about. In case, you don’t already know, United beat the Turkish champions 4–1 to move closer to qualification for the knockout stages. Our play in the first half was smooth and free-flowing. It was pleasant to watch and showed once again what this team is capable of if they turn on the style. This showed the quality available in this team. It might have been against a team that we would be favoured to dispose of but on this display, we can beat anyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAuyYMfN9Ns Free-Flowing Midfield & Attack Donny van de Beek started the game at long last in a withdrawn centre midfield position alongside Fred, a change from where he normally plays. But he didn’t look out of depth playing there. He was instrumental in the quick circulation of possession and triangles we were playing, linking up with Bruno Fernandes further ...

Inter were late to the party but left as the darling of the party. That analogy best describes Inter’s comeback win over Torino. Lacklustre Start For 60 minutes, Inter were sterile in possession, lacked intensity, movement and creativity. In every department, we were second best. Looking at how the first half was unfolding, I thought to myself we got to somehow see this game out and eke out a win. But I cannot begrudge Torino for scoring a deserved opener. In keeping with our first half, Alexis Sanchez lost the ball in our half and Torino capitalised to punish us. I must point out the beautiful assist by Soualiho Meite to free Simone Zaza for Torino’s goal. I had thought after that first-half performance and going 1-0 down, Antonio Conte would get stuck into the players in the dressing room and that would wake them up for the second half. There wasn’t much difference though. Since joining Inter, Ashley Young produced his worst performance. All game, he struggled to cope with the thre...

Manchester United was back in action after the international break. The performance in our last league match before the international break was heartening and positive. We were hoping for more of the same today morning when we played against West Bromwich Albion. What we saw was in perfect tune with how the season has been; infuriatingly inconsistent. We have not won a league game at home this season and on paper, this seemed to be a dead certainty for our first league win at home. But we contrived to make it hard for ourselves. The match was moved from the original 11 pm kickoff in Singapore to 4 am, I presume for TV purposes. It was a tough watch as I struggled to stay awake for this match. While putting myself through the rigour of waking up in the wee hours to watch my team play exemplifies the common commitment among fans in South East Asia for their favourite European clubs, at the end of the game, I felt I should have just slept this one out. Disjointed From the start of the...

 In terms of the ultimate joy as an Italy fan, it doesn’t come bigger than winning the World Cup in 2006. The core of the squad has been together since Euro 2000 with a couple being part of the squad from as early as Euro 96. However, at this stage, they were mostly in their late 20s and early 30s. Age and injuries were catching up and it claimed a vital component of previous squads, Christian Vieri. He was replaced by a late developer, Luca Toni. There weren’t many emerging young talents but there were two in this squad, Daniele De Rossi and Alberto Gilardino. In March, there were a couple of friendly results that went under the radar, beating two big European nations, Germany and Holland comprehensively. Before the World Cup started, the squad was rocked by news of a match-fixing scandal that involved top Italian clubs in Serie A. Many pundits and experts predicted Italy would get distracted by the scandal but I was quietly confident, it would work in our favour. Group Stage ...