Dominating Newcastle

Scunthorpe was defeated with a little bit of difficulty as Manchester United played the second team. I have been looking forward to an opportunity to play Kuszczak in the goal in lieu of Van der Sar. The line up in this match against Scunthorpe was

Kuszczak
Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra
Miller, Fletcher, Sung, Richardson
Rossi, Smith
Manchester United won 2 – 1. The two goals were scored by Rossi and Saha, who came in place of Smith.

The following match with Newcastle saw a goal feast. Manchester United won 4 – 0. All four goals were scored by Rooney. Ferdinand was unfortunately sent off in the 45th minute and Smith was immediately taken off, Vidic coming in to bolster the defence.

Newcastle versus Manchester United
0 Goals 4
5 Total Shots 21
3 Shots on Target 14
10 Tackles 34
3 Fouls 4
0 Bookings 1
1 Corners 5
0 Offsides 0
64 % Passing % 78 %
35 % Possession % 65 %
60 % Shot Accuracy 66 %


Match events
4th minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney
32nd minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney
42nd minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney
45th minute – Red Card Manchester United – Ferdinand
45th minute – Vidic in, Smith out
77th minute – Emre in, Babayaro out
84th minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney


After the match the Team Chemistry is 45, my Job Security 77 and Fan Support is 59.

4 - 1 WIN AT OLD TRAFFORD

As predicted the Bolton match gave a thumping win to Manchester United. 4 – 1 is no easy task, any day, against any side. And mind you, this Bolton side is good. But Manchester United showed true class, attacking through the flanks, shooting hard at the goal, 22 in number. Had it not been for Jaaskelainen, C. Ronaldo would have himself scored 4 goals. It was a tough opposition, whose defense collapsed just before the half time whistle was blown.

If you look at the events, you will note that the last five minutes before the end of the first half was where the entire match and its fate were decided. Five minutes and fours goals. And kudos to Rooney, who came good in this match – pumping in two goals in rapid succession, snatching away the match from Bolton.

The teams :

Bolton

Jaaskelainen

N. Hunt, T. Ben Haim, A. Meite, I. Campo

K. Nolan, I. Tal, G. Speed

Diouf, K. Davies

Anelka



Manchester United

Van der Sar
Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze
C. Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs
Rooney, Smith


The Events

41st minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney
44th minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney
45th minute – goal Bolton – Nolan, from free kick
45th minute – goal Manchester United – Carrick, from C. Ronaldo’s corner

At half time Manchester United was leading 3 – 1

75th minute – Manchester United – Evra in, Heinze out
75th minute – Manchester United – O’Shea in , Neville out
77th minute – Manchester United – J. S. Park in, Scholes out
77th minute – goal Manchester United – Smith


The game statistics

Manchester United versus Bolton
4 Goals 1
26 Total Shots 11
22 Shots on Target 3
20 Tackles 22
4 Fouls 5
0 Bookings 0
7 Corners 0
0 Offsides 0
82% Passing % 70%
55% Possession % 45%
84% Shot Accuracy 27%

Clearly Manchester United was the better side today.

The Team Chemistry is 42, my Job Security 71 and Fan Support 56.

With nine points in five matches, Manchester United is currently ranked fourth after Blackburn at 11, Liverpool at 10, Chelsea at 9 from 4 Matches, leading the pack.

The next match in the fixture is with Scunthorpe United in the League Cup. Manchester United should have it easy and I am planning on resting ALL key players. To carry forward my previous plan of trying out Kuszczak, he will replace van der Sar in the next match for sure.

Rooney 1 - 1 Henry

The match against Arsenal was fantastic. Both teams battled out well and the final outcome was the result that one could only hope for. Personally, I feel the Arsenal side was much stronger, and they proved it over and over again. Lehmann was simply outstanding repeatedly fending off powerful shots from Rooney, Smith and C. Ronaldo. At the end of it, I am happy with the result.

The teams:

Arsenal

Lehmann

Eboue. Terry, Toure, A. Cole

Ljungberg, Fabregas, Gilberto Silva, Rosicky

Van Persie, Henry


Manchester United

Van der Sar
Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze
C. Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs
Rooney, Smith


The Events

48th minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney

At half time Manchester United was leading 1 – 0

54th minute – goal Arsenal – Henry
53rd minute – Arsenal – Drogba in , Kalou out
56th minute – Arsenal – Flamini in, Ljungberg out
63rd minute – Arsenal – Eboue Yellow Card
90th minute – Manchester United – Saha in, Smith out

The game statistics

Manchester United versus Arsenal
1 Goals 1
21 Total Shots 7
10 Shots on Target 4
21 Tackles 21
1 Fouls 1
0 Bookings 1
4 Corners 3
0 Offsides 0
77% Passing % 61%
56% Possession % 44%
47% Shot Accuracy 57%


After the match the team of the month was announced and three players from the Manchester United team were selected – Ferdinand, Carrick and C. Ronaldo. The Team Chemistry is 42, my Job Security 68 and Fan Support 53.

After 4 matches
Rank Team Points
1 Blackburn 10
2 Liverpool 7
3 Tottenham 7
4 Chelsea 6 (3 matches)
5 Manchester United 6
6 Sheffield United 6
7 Wigan Athletic 6
8 Newcastle 6
9 West Ham 5
10 Arsenal 5

The next match is with Bolton. My guess 3-0 in our favour.

A WIN! FINALLY!

A WIN! FINALLY! CHEERS AT OLD TRAFFORD

The first home game this season saw Manchester United defeating Chelsea 3 – 2. The scoreline could have easily read 5 – 2, but for Petr Cech. Wonderful goalkeeping. Whereas, age is starting to show on Van der Sar. Maybe in one of the next few matches I will have to try Kuszczak in his place. There was one change in this match. Saha was kept out. In lieu of Saha, Smith played and delightfully well. A 9 pointer. His match experience points also increased by 9 points. However, my Man of the Match was C. Ronaldo. Scoring the first goal in the eleventh minute and then following it up with a fabulous corner to assist Rooney to net the second in, controlling his side of the midfield and the amazing runs forcing Bridge to commit three fouls, all deserving Yellow Cards, C. Ronaldo ruled this game.

The teams :

Chelsea

Cech
Ferreira, Carvalho, Gallas, Bridge
Essien
S. Wright-Phillips, Robben
Lampard
Kalou Shevchenko



Manchester United

Van der Sar
Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze
C. Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs
Rooney, Smith


The Events

11th minute – goal Manchester United - C. Ronaldo
28th minute – goal Chelsea – Lampard
41st minute – goal Manchester United – Rooney

At half time Manchester United was leading 2 – 1

53rd minute – goal Manchester United – Smith
53rd minute – Chelsea – Drogba in , Kalou out
56th minute – Yellow Card Manchester United- Heinze
70th minute – goal Chelsea – Drogba
77th minute – Manchester United – Evra in, Heinze out

The game statistics

Manchester United versus Chelsea
3 Goals 2
15 Total Shots 9
10 Shots on Target 4
25 Tackles 23
2 Fouls 4
1 Bookings 0
5 Corners 1
2 Offsides 0
77% Passing % 66%
55% Possession % 45%
66% Shot Accuracy 44%

Clearly Manchester United was the better side today.

After the match the team of the month was announced and three players from the Manchester United team were selected – Ferdinand, Scholes and C. Ronaldo. Also, I was asked to rest key players before the Bolton match. The Team Chemistry is 41, my Job Security 68 and Fan Support 53.

However, the transfer window closed and I failed to bring in neither Terry not Tevez. Without Tevez moving in, and Saha not being my favorite, I guess Smith will be into the playing eleven on a rather permanent basis. By the way, I do not intend to use Solkjaer unless there are any injuries to the key players and I a, really short of strikers, and I also plan to sell him off in the January transfer window.

New Season of FIFA 2007

A couple of weeks back, my operating system crashed and I had to reinstall the operating system. And it was then that I decided that since I would have to reinstall FIFA 2007, I might as well start a blog on that.

I just love this game too much and would love to share what’s happening on my screen.

I reinstalled Fifa 2007 and entered the Manager Mode. Ah! Pure joy.

While looking for a job, I choose Manchester United. Four and a half stars appeared a nice place to start the proceedings.

However, the team is in a mess, and I have a lot of work ahead. Before starting the season, I was informed that Giggs was the favorite of the fans, and so I may have to play him more often. That, in other words would mean less time on the pitch for Richardson. And by the way, the youth academy came up with two young players. Rehberg and Harnish. I have signed both. If they are not required, I will sell them later.

And yes, I played the first game of the season. It was an away match at Reading.

My team
Van der Sar

Neville Ferdinand Silvestre Heinze

C. Ronaldo P. Scholes Carrick Giggs

Rooney Saha

The reserves were
Kuszczak – goal
J. O Shea – defense
Park Ji Sung – midfield
Richardson – midfield
A. Smith – forward

The game was played on professional mode but kept on normal pace.

It ended in a tame 0 – 0 draw. I am still getting used to my new keyboard.

Park came in for Scholes in the 77th minute, but couldn’t make much of a difference. It was game which Manchester United should have won easily. Just look at the comparatives here

Reading versus Manchester United
67% Passing 73%
41% Possession 59%
5 Shots 21
2 Shots on Target 5
5 Fouls 2
0 Bookings 0
17 Tackles 21

Clearly, the statistics indicate that a winning opportunity was squandered. Just 5 shots were on target out of 21, that’s bad.

After the match, the Team Chemistry is 40, my Job Security is 61, and Fan Support is 50.