Ras' Football World

I was excited as this weekend edged closer as it meant the return of European football starting with the English Premier League as is normally the case every season. After a horrendous season the last time out, I was looking forward to seeing what Manchester United was going to produce this season. The pre-season results have been good and the performances have been bright and sharp. But the cynic in me wasn't willing to read too much into the pre-season results and performances. I have seen this story before. Ironically, it was played out ahead of another Dutch manager's debut season, Louis Van Gaal.  As it turned out, my cynicism wasn't unfounded. Just like his predecessor, Erik Ten Hag started his competitive journey with Manchester United with a defeat. The symmetry is shared with the result, 1-2 and the venue of the match, Old Trafford. That season, after the defeat, United made four signings having only signed two players prior to the start of the season. This time, U...

 It’s been 2 weeks since Manchester United’s season ended and I have been conspicuous by my absence. I have not said a word about Manchester United in the season that has just passed since the 20 th of January this year. What is there left to be said that has not been said by the fans and pundits? Where do I start and where do I finish? Having said that, this will inevitably be a long piece. This has been the worst season I have experienced as a Manchester United fan. We started with enthusiasm after the signings of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane and that reached fever pitch with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo. It was exciting. I didn’t think we would have won the league with these signings but I had in mind a different kind of season than the one that unravelled. Like many, I thought this season was the do-or-die season for Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as United manager but little did I know that he would be “killed” so soon in the season. I have always maintained my respect for h...

 Inter ended the 2021-22 season with two trophies in the trophy cabinet and nearly a clean sweep of domestic honours but had to relinquish the Scudetto they won last season to neighbours, AC Milan on the last day. Inter ended a long, excruciating wait of 11 years to win the Scudetto last season but we couldn’t enjoy the triumph for long as days after, Antonio Conte left by mutual consent. There was plenty of news report as well that our owners, the Suning Group was broke and had to balance their books which meant selling key players. The first painful sale the club made was of Achraf Hakimi. We thought that would be the only one. Later during pre-season, another bombshell was dropped when Romelu Lukaku was sold. This time it was because the player wanted to challenge himself again in the Premier League for a club that is dear to his heart. During Euro 2020, Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and would not be able to play in Serie A with an implantable cardioverter-defibril...

  As the dust has settled on the Coppa Italia final, I share my reflections on a dramatic final. Nicolo Barella scored a great goal to open the scoring at a time when the game was still in its infancy. Neither team had exerted total control at that point of the match. The opening goal gave Inter the momentum to dominate the match in the first 25 minutes of the match. Thereafter, Juventus grew into the match. It is tough to completely dominate and keep out a team with quality like Juventus. I also felt that a reason why Juventus grew into the match was that our forwards, Lautaro Martinez and Edin Dzeko struggled to keep hold of possession and were second best to any ball played forward. Giorgio Chiellini epitomised Juventus’ fightback in typical fashion with determination and tenacity. In matches such as this, it is expected for Inter to face different phases of the match; from dominating the match, we had to dig deep and defend. Generally, we did a good job to withstand Juventus’...

I was cautious on Italy’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup as unlike previous editions, this would be played on a knockout basis and Italy would have two knockout matches to navigate. The draw for the first of these knockout matches was favourable as were drawn against North Macedonia, on paper a winnable match. I was confident that given the importance of this match and the quality Italy had, they would have enough to see off the Macedonians. What lay ahead in our path after this match was what worried me as we would likely face the previous European champions, Portugal. But football, like life can be unpredictable. Italy ended the game with 32 attempts on goal and 16 corners but North Macedonia had the most crucial statistic, the only goal struck in injury time to knock four-times champions, Italy out. For the second World Cup in a row, the mighty Italians with a significant and reputable history in football, a team with prestige and pedigree, a team that only nine months befo...

I watched Inter vs Liverpool without much hope of Inter being able to win the tie and advance to the next stage of the Champions League. I watched it to support the team from afar on a sofa chair in Singapore in the wee hours of Thursday morning. All I asked for was for my team to give a good account of themselves and not let themselves down. Based on what I saw, I would say they did give a good account of themselves in a tie where we are not favourites to win and advance to the next round. But I also feel that this is not the real Inter, not the one that we see weekly in Serie A. Arguably, a draw would have been the fair result but we are sat here mulling over a defeat and what-ifs. Inter dealt with the threat of facing Liverpool’s famed strike trio of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah well – Mane was substituted during the game and Jota was brought off at half-time. In the first half, I felt we were a bit nervous and cautious. We kept playing the ball back towards our goal...

 Manchester United beat Brentford 3-1 and with that, we became the first-ever Premier League club to win 300 away matches in the league. But I am not breaking my long draught of not writing about Manchester United to write about the game. I don’t even know where to start and what to say about Manchester United anymore. Is Manchester United cursed? Did someone put a curse on Manchester United Football Club? It sounds ridiculous but it does feel like it now. Did Sir Alex Ferguson have a magic formula with him and brought it with him? So many pundits are trying to put a finger on what is the issue at the club but honestly can only speculate. Ex-players can only talk about the past and past glory. Sometimes, I feel these former players should just turn up for the training sessions at Carrington unannounced to watch the training sessions, study the body language of the players and the rapport the players have. There have been so ma ny reports and rumours of unhappiness and negativity ...