retired_manragh

January

9 Games in January should mean I get my match fitness back pretty quickly but on the same note I didn’t want to push my luck with injuries, but with Ronaldo out for a while it meant an increased work load.

Our first game was on the 2nd when we took on Everton, I had a decent game but it wasn’t enough as we lost 3-2, next we played Reading on the road to the same scoreline and another 3-2 loss once again I was good and scored a late consolation goal when Alex hit a cross to the far post where I was running in, a simple volley into the bottom left corner was all that I needed to do.

I had an average game in our 0-0 draw against Watford in the 3 round of the FA cup which wasn’t what we needed as we had to play another game this month which brought the tally to 10.

Finally we had a 3-2 score line which went our way, we beat Boro on the road in the first leg of the League Cup Semi Final, personally my game was terrific it was a ball magnet and I'm a bit surprised I didn’t get the man of the match award for my 3 assists, Vanders got that with his two goals, still I was happy to play in a winning side.

You wouldn’t believe it but once again a 3-2 score line and once again we were on the wrong side, I got us ahead 2-1 just after the hour when Alex Wischang once again supplied a nice cross, this time I rose above a defender and put the header in, we couldn’t hold on though to Mr Koeman’s disgust and Birmingham scored two late goals much to the delight of the home fans. Didn’t we cop a roasting in the change rooms after that debacle.


A 2-1 win over Watford in the replay of the FA cup game was well received by our home fans and once I combined with Wischang to put away a goal, Vidic scored an own goal a bit later for them to equalise, but Danny put away the winner with 2 minutes to spare.

The 22nd of January seen us get our 2nd win in a row, this time it was at West Ham’s expense, I had a decent game, nothing special on my part though.

We made it 3 on the trot with a 3-1 home win in the second leg of the cup semi final against Boro which meant we would play West Ham in the final in about a months time. Despite our poor showing so far this year maybe we could get something out of it, Arsenal were 12 or 13 points clear of their nearest rival and pretty much had the title rapped up at this stage.

Our clash with Wigan in the Fourth round of the FA cup seen us make it 4 wins in a row with John O’Shea grabbing the solitary goal, I had a real good game but took a knock to the shin that flared up pretty bad the next day, it would mean I would miss the Tottenham game on the 31st, it was a game we won 3-1 with Danny having a blinder scoring 2 and getting the man of the match award, it was a good result but we were currently languishing in 10 spot, something that we were unfamiliar with and looked like we would miss out on Europe if we didn’t pull our fingers out.

retired_manragh

February

The bruising in my shin was all back to normal and I was ready to play Wigan again, we were 2-0 up by half time and looking good, Danny was in fine form at the moment and he opened the scoring, probably our best player so far this year Vanders (Van der Vaart) continued on his way getting the other just before the break. I was having a good game aswell but that all ended on the hour when their right back Miso Brecko drove his knee into my thigh in a heading challenge, the leg went dead instantly, Brecko was the one that kicked me in the shin as well two games back so I'm starting to think that these are just not coincidence’s. I came off and Fletch (Darren Fletcher) came on for me. At the end of the game Mr Koeman was livid with our performance as we let them score 2 goals in the last 10 minutes, the second goal was in injury time and they had been reduced to 10 men only minutes before, the draw was not acceptable in his eyes.

A week later on the 11th I finally had some pay back, it was the return game against the team where I suffered the hip injury, Millwall but this time they came to Old Trafford and I was pumped up for the match. I could see I was being targeted again but this time I was aware so I played it to my advantage, if you know something coming its much easier to avoid or prepare for, and when players were overcommitting and diving at me in challenges I found it easy to get around them and it resulted in my first goal, Alexis hit the cross from wide right and I was moving into the far post, their right back made an obvious attempt to back into me but I seen it coming sidestepped him and moved into position, I was now unmarked on the far post and put away the simplest of headers, he wasn’t happy when I got in his face about it “Keep that crap up pal and ill have a hatrick today� was my comment to him, that was in the 25th minute.

28 minutes and I was making another run forward this time I was deliberately body checked and received an elbow to my stomach for my troubles, and I went down, the ref had blown his whistle but there was no card, Ricardo Gardner was in my face returning the favour “Looks like I can dish them out all day aswell� was the comment.

We had a free kick on the left side and Vanders was taking it, I was standing in the main pack waiting for the ball to come in but Vanders signalled the pass back so I knew it was going to Rio in a more central position but back towards the middle third, he would switch the play and the ball would come in on a different angle leaving Vanders and someone else a isolated on the left with an avenue to goal, Vanders was about to play the ball when I felt the kidney taps, Gardener was letting me know he was there, screw this I though so I broke into an offside position and ducked back around to the right side, the pass went back to Rio while I was offside but it didn’t matter as I cut back around to the right I had lost Gardner in the pack I was going to be the switch player I got to about the 10 yards right of the spot and was back onside and no one was there to mark me, Rio seen it and fired the pass in to me instead of out wide, I turned still with plenty of time and let rip the keeper didn’t move as the ball smashed in the back, their keeper went berserk at his defence as I made my way over to Gardner “That’s number 2 pal and I think your keeper wants a word� 5 or 6 minutes later and I was on the ground once more another crude tackle and this was becoming stupid, although Gardner did receive a yellow this time, and I let the ref know my thoughts in my own charismatic way that this crap had better stop it was happening any time I got the ball, by charismatic I meant I gave him one of verbal sprays and had to be pulled away by Caz, I received a warning but no card. After the half the pace was a bit more relaxed but I kept getting fouled constantly, although Gardner had backed off a bit it was others now doing the job. I didn’t get the hatrick but I did cop another hard tackle and it was Gardners last act of the day as the ref finally gave him a red, much to the delight of our fans who gave a cheer when he was shown the card and then proceeded to chant ‘TWO ON YOU, TWO ON YOU� over and over as he left the pitch, we won the game 2 nil in the end and I picked up my first man of the match for the year, I faced all four stands and clapped in a gesture of thanks for the support, which was well received, if these fans were on your side you just had to love em, they were great.

In the next few weeks we had some bad results we beat Feyenoord in the first knockout round of the Euro Cup with a 2-1 win away and then a 2-2 draw at home I had a good game in both setting up Wazza’s (Rooney) winner away.

We lost to Arsenal 3-1 at Emirates in the 5th round of the FA cup , and then lost the League Cup final to West Ham 1-0 in extra time which was pretty disappointing, to top that off we lost 3-1 to bottom placed Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, which lifted them off the bottom of the table, this season was now turning ugly.

retired_manragh

March

Neither me or the club had the best of starts to March we struggled to draw with Watford at home and once again I sustained a leg injury that had me hobbling down to the injury room after 14 minutes, thankfully nothing too serious and I would be available to our trip to France to take on Paris in round 2 of the Euro Cup knockout phase.

It was close game and I played pretty good but we narrowly went down 3-2 by the end of fulltime, for the first time in a while we had a week to recover before our next game which was the return leg.

Training was mostly tactical while just trying to keep fresh this time of the year it was mostly skills work, Mr Koeman was pretty disappointed at the year so far so wanted to give something back to the fans, and I think we gave them some hope in the return leg with a commanding 3-1 win I set up Danny for our first goal and then Rooney grabbed the second in a nice solo effort, they pegged one back but had to go for it with us going through on on away goals if they didn’t score another, we hit them on the counter and it was Gabi who scored his first for the season to give us a 3-1 win and a ticket to the next round.

3 days later we went down 2-1 to Newcastle it wasn’t one of my best days, I was targeted again and unfairly I feel, and when Kostadinov took me out in the 70th minute, I was straight up to my feet and ran over and pushed him back to the ground with a verbal slurry following, I think it was Vanders who pulled me away with the ref brandishing a straight red, looking back on it might have been a bit rash but I’m fed up with these crap tackles.

April

We didn’t have another game until April and I did my best to smooth things over, I apologised in an article on the webstite to the fans, players and staff for my reaction to the incident and promised to redouble my efforts in keeping my temper in check.

It turned out to be a 5 game suspension all up, they were going to give me more but I managed to get away with a mild provocation defence and a stern warning if it happened again they would throw the book at me. I was also fined heavily for bringing the game into disrepute and United docked me two weeks wages, it wasn’t a good month for the bank balance let me tell you.

The results weren’t any better for us either, I missed the 4-4 draw with Liverpool and then the Euro Cup 3rd round legs were we won 3-2 at home and drew 2-2 against Spanish side Getafe, I sort count of blessings that I wasn’t part of the 2-0 defeat at home in the Manchester Derby against City, but Mr Koeman didn’t spare me as he said it was as much my fault for not being available because of stupidity, which I guess is warranted. The team finally managed to Bolton on the 21st of April which the team received Bronx cheers from the fans, again deserved. Wazza scored two in that game but also came off with a slight concussion after a clash of heads.

I finally was picked for the Semi Final of the Euro Cup the first leg which was played at Old Trafford and the opponent was Everton, It had Mr Koeman fuming as we crashed to a two nil defeat, especially when Captain Gary Neville was sent off after 69 minutes for kicking out at James McFadden, he had only just come on at half time too, I sat on the bench for the whole game.

Ronaldo had recovered for the away game versus Charlton and even though he had no match fitness he was picked ahead of me as I once again sat on the bench, At half time we was 2-0 down and didn’t look firing a shot, Mr Koeman didn’t even address us he was that angry he left it to assistant manager Calros Queiroz who wasn’t kind with his words either. I finally come on after Wischang gave away a penalty in the 71st minute which Bent missed over the top, I ran my butt off all over the pitch in the final 20 odd minutes and did well, I wanted to get my starting spot back.

At the end of April it was definitely a horror season for us we were in 11th place in the League although we did have 2 games in hand over most teams, even if we did win both we would only move to 7th spot, we were knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage, we lost to West Ham in the League cup final, then Arsenal in the 5th round of the FA cup and now we looked like going out in the semi’s to Everton in the Euro Cup.

Arsenal had already claimed the League Title as well by the end of the month.

retired_manragh

May

Finally a disappointing year was coming to an end and personally I was hoping for the holidays so me and Marie could head of to Australia for a nice vacation, I'm pretty disappointed to be going on vocation in a sense though as I would of dearly loved to play in this years Euro Championships.

Everton did what they had to do in the return leg of the Semi’s of the Euro Cup winning the tie overall 2-1, we won this game 1-0 but it wasn’t enough, I was brought on for the last 15 minutes which is disappointing but I have brought this upon myself.

Our home against West Brom had the fans forgetting our miserable league position as we thumped them 4-0, once again I was brought on as a sub for the last 20 and I did well setting up our 4th goal which Danny tucked away, its still disappointing though to be a sub.

I didn’t think things could get worse but I wasn’t even in the squad for the Arsenal game at Emirates, which we were lucky to come back with a 2-1 loss, Arsenal dominated the game and should have had 4 or 5, Ronaldo received a straight red for a professional foul so with a bit of luck I might get a start in the Villa game.

I did get a start in the Villa game and I made the most of my chances as I put away a corner with a nice header it was the winning goal in the 2-1 victory and I picked up my second man of the match award for the season, hopefully I would get the nod for the last game against Boro.

Nope no start for me, which I'm pretty disappointed with, Ronaldo straight back into the side, I did manage to play the last 15 minutes of the game pretty well and the 2-2 draw seen us finish in 7th place, hardly what you would call a good season.

I won mine and Danny’s bet that we made at the start of the season by getting the best overall average rating and most starts, he grabbed the most man of the match awards, it meant a bit more spending money for me on the vacation to Australia with Marie, I'm not that happy to be going on vacation to Australia though, Id much rather be going to Norway to play in the European Championships for Wales.

Everton went on to win the Euro Cup by defeating Bremen in the final it was great result them and meant they would be back in Europe, this time though they had a chance at the Champions League courtesy of finishing 3rd in the league, we were not going to Europe next year it seemed. While Arsenal went on to draw the Plaudits of the footballing community with the Treble, a 4-0 thumping of Chelsea in the FA Cup final was matched by a 2-0 win over Porto in the Champions Cup final a week later, to think i could of been there instead.

The final standing of the Premier League looked like thus:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | ECC | Arsenal | | 38 | 27 | 5 | 6 | 81 | 33 | +48 | 86 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | ECC | Chelsea | | 38 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 61 | 38 | +23 | 74 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | ECC | Everton | | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 51 | 30 | +21 | 66 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | ECC | Middlesbrough | | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 51 | 35 | +16 | 62 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | EC | Newcastle | | 38 | 19 | 5 | 14 | 58 | 47 | +11 | 62 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | EC | Aston Villa | | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 56 | 38 | +18 | 60 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Man Utd | | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 68 | 56 | +12 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | EV | Charlton | | 38 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 68 | 59 | +9 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Man City | | 38 | 17 | 5 | 16 | 54 | 55 | -1 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Tottenham | | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 60 | 47 | +13 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Liverpool | | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 57 | 63 | -6 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Wigan | | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 47 | 50 | -3 | 46 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Reading | | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 40 | 53 | -13 | 46 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Birmingham | | 38 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 42 | 62 | -20 | 45 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | EC | West Ham | | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 47 | 64 | -17 | 41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Sheff Utd | | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 43 | 60 | -17 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Millwall | | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 35 | 52 | -17 | 38 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Bolton | | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 46 | 65 | -19 | 37 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Watford | | 38 | 7 | 14 | 17 | 25 | 52 | -27 | 35 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | West Brom | | 38 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 43 | 74 | -31 | 33 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

While my stats so far in my Career and this season looked like this:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Year | Team | Division | Info | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Av R | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2011-12 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 21 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 7.05 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2010-11 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 24 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 6.88 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2009-10 | Dundee Utd | Premier League | Loan | 32 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6.78 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2008-09 | Hartlepool | Championship | Loan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.67 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2008-09 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 0 | - | - | - | ---- | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2008-09 | Lincoln | League Two | | 21 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7.05 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2007-08 | Lincoln | League Two | £14K | 20 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7.00 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2006-07 | Newport YMCA | | | 33 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6.36 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2005-06 | Newport YMCA | | | 22 | 4 | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Statistics | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Yel | Red | Tck | Pass | Sh Tar | Fouls| Fls Ag | Av R | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Non Competitive | 4 (2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 7.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | League | 16 (5) | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.95 | 69 % | 52 % | 18 | 59 | 7.05 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Cup | 7 (1) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.08 | 70 % | 40 % | 8 | 18 | 7.13 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Continental | 5 (2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.80 | 69 % | 72 % | 9 | 16 | 7.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | International | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 7 | 3 | 8.67 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Overall | 28 (8) | 8 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.95 | 69 % | 52 % | 35 | 93 | 7.06 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_manragh

Holiday’s and Preseason

The break was excellent and just what I needed and Australia is a fun place to visit, we went to the Gold Coast then down to Sydney did all the touristy things there like walked over the Harbour Bridge, visited the Rocks, went down to Darling Harbour and up to the Snowy Mountains, we also went to Melbourne for a few days and watched an AFL match we seen a team called Essendon play the beat the West Coast Eagles in a close one, Marie was baffled with the rules, but I still had a fair understanding from living here as a kid.

I did manage to watch a few of the Euro games but the interest just wasn’t there for me, watching Serbia play in it left a bitter taste in my mouth. At the end of the first round the tables looked like this:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | France | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Czech Republic | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Holland | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | England | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Ireland | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Germany | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Bulgaria | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Serbia | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Ukraine | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Norway | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Portugal | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Romania | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Italy | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Scotland | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Spain | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Turkey | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Ireland were doing well and had qualified in top spot in their group while England had struggled and crashed out, Scotland did make it to the next round and Danny put away a penalty in their win over Turkey, he wasn’t having the best of tournaments.

The Quarter Finals were pretty boring with France beating Germany 1-0, and then Ireland beat Czech Republic in a shootout after a 0-0 draw, Ukraine also needed penalties after their 0-0 deadlock with Scotland, Danny will be pretty disappointed with his game, while the hosts Norway grabbed a lucky goal and beat Italy 1-0.

The semi’s were just as drab France beat Norway 1-0 and Ireland got a good win 1-0 over the Ukraine could this be a fairy tale finish for the Irish reminiscent of outsiders like Denmark and Greece lifting the trophy’s.

It was a fairy tale finish for the Irish as they won the game via another shootout, France might be disappointed as they did shade the Irish all game but that’s what happens when you don’t take your chances.

We got from our holiday in Australia and wasn’t surprised to see that Ronaldo had left the club in a 22.5 million pound move to Chelsea, we also lost John O’Shea, Niccholas Ajose and Gareth Barry in free transfers to Charlton, Louis Saha also left the club and Alexander Wischang was sorting out terms with Inter and Roma who both had offers accepted. We had one player come in Columbian International Freddy Guarin was a defensive midfielder who could play central and right midfield as well he under the Bosman ruling, apart from that though it was more a promotion from with in with Mark Hol, Ross Taylor and Magnus Wolff Eikrem all promoted from the youth and reserve squads.

Other notable transfers over the summer were Arsenal signing Jonathan de Guzman from Real Madrid and Ryan Taylor going to Liverpool, Chelsea also signed Argentinian International keeper Oscar Ustari from Getafe.

Our squad looked like this:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Nat | Height | Weight | Age | Value | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Tut | Michael Holwijn | GK | NED | 183 cm | 80 kg | 21 | £3.1M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | | Graham McFall | GK | NIR | 191 cm | 88 kg | 19 | £5.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Nemanja Vidic | SW, D C | SRB | 188 cm | 84 kg | 30 | £6M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | Wnt | Alexis | D RC | ESP | 182 cm | 75 kg | 26 | £8.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Wes Brown | D RC | ENG | 185 cm | 80 kg | 32 | £625K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Yth | Mark Hol | D R | NED | 177 cm | 76 kg | 17 | - | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Ret | Gary Neville | D RC, WB R | ENG | 178 cm | 75 kg | 37 | £110K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | | Gabriel Heinze | D LC, WB L | ARG | 178 cm | 72 kg | 34 | £950K | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | Wnt | Jonathan Evans | D C | NIR | 186 cm | 82 kg | 25 | £3.6M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Rio Ferdinand | D C | ENG | 189 cm | 82 kg | 33 | £2.1M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Yth | Ross Taylor | D/WB L | ENG | 178 cm | 77 kg | 18 | - | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Freddy GuarÃ*n | DM, M RC | COL | 183 cm | 80 kg | 26 | £10.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Darren Fletcher | M RC | SCO | 183 cm | 82 kg | 28 | £5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MC | Tut | Michael Carrick | M C | ENG | 183 cm | 79 kg | 30 | £9.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Quaresma | AM RL | POR | 173 cm | 71 kg | 28 | £9M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMR | Bid | Alexander Wischang | AM R | SUI | 177 cm | 74 kg | 21 | £13M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | | Macsen Davies | AM LC | WAL | 175 cm | 71 kg | 21 | £7.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rafael van der Vaart | AM C | NED | 175 cm | 73 kg | 29 | £20.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Magnus Wolff Eikrem | AM C | NOR | 175 cm | 75 kg | 21 | £5.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Wayne Rooney | AM/F C | ENG | 177 cm | 74 kg | 26 | £35.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Giuseppe Rossi | AM/F C | ITA | 173 cm | 71 kg | 25 | £7M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FC | | Falcao | F C | COL | 177 cm | 73 kg | 26 | £17.75M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | | Daniel Galbraith | F C | SCO | 179 cm | 75 kg | 21 | £19.75M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| While my personal details looked like Personal Details | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wales | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | 7 caps / 5 goals | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | 1.1.1991 | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | 21 years old | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | AM LC | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Preferred Foot | Left Only | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Height | 175 cm | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Weight | 71 kg | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Value | £7,250,000 | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Basic Wage | £18,000 per week | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Contract Expires | 30.6.2016 | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Well i guess we will see where we at with the Preseason games playing agaisnt Hibs and then going to Portugal for 3 games.

retired_manragh

Pre season

Pre season went as normal, training during this time is always hard and its mainly centred around fitness and strength work with some skills works, Roma finally signed Alex Wischang for 38.5 million which meant that we had plenty of cash in the kitty, so we were all waiting to see who Mr Koeman was going to sign, he was keeping all under the table as well, there were no real rumours floating about.

We didn’t have the best of warmup’s as we lost to Hibs 2-1 in our first outing, Wazza gave us the lead in the 1st minute but that was it for us, Hibs quickly equalised two minutes later and then scored the winner 3 minutes after the half break.

We then went to Portugal for the next 3 games, no doubt Mr Koeman was scouting someone over. Our first game was a boring game in which we won 1-0 over Aves, Van der Vaart the scorer for us, it should have been an equaliser but Kevin Das Neves missed a penalty for them. Second up was National da Madeira and we succumbed to a 2-1 loss we were 2-0 down when I scored my goal, a nice volley from 10 out, my touch was getting back to what it should be. Our last game in Portugal was against E. Amadora we grabbed an easy 3-0 with Wazza bagging a double and Vanders getting the other, my game was pretty solid.

Back in England we played our last friendly game against Semi Pro outfit Newport County and we were lucky to get a draw, Michael Carrick earned the man of the match award, while Danny got to lead the team for the first time, a big honour for him.

It wasn’t the pre season we needed and maybe the media predictions were correct at having us at 4th place, we really needed to get some depth and maybe another big name player, although I think this will be my year to shine, so hopefully it wont be another attacking midfield player, I had some good news and renewed my contract with Nike for another 2 years with a few incentives throw in, mainly performance based.

Edgar Andrade joined our club from Munchen, he was a Mexican international who played central and right midfield so he wouldn’t really be contesting my spot.

With 2 days before the start of the season, the club was hit with a bombshell, I heard it first on BBC sports, Mr Ronald Koeman had left United and gone to Roma, the same team that had signed Wischang, the move made me numb. I can’t believe he has left.

Rumours are ripe with speculation on who our next manager is going to be Mark Hughes is the favourite although he took over Celtic this year so I don’t think he will come, others in the mix are Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and another favourite in Watford manager Steve Bruce was also rumoured.

Carlos Queiroz took over management duties until the new manager was found and we took on Reading in our first game for the year, televised at Old Trafford. I found myself starting on the bench as Carlos went for a 442 formation and it had me thinking, I wonder what was going to happen with the new managers formation was there going to be a spot for me? As it was Wazza was playing right midfield and Rossi took the left, I'm a bit surprised it wasn’t me starting on the left, and Wazza up front with Danny but what can I do.


Reading grabbed the lead with their first shot of the day, Illugason the scorer in the 18th minute, it took us a while but Danny equalised in the 34th minute and then slotted home a penalty in the 40th and we had 2-1 lead at the break, Danny was in good form early and I can honestly say we were all surprised when he was subbed after 45 minutes and Carlos went to a 451 formation bringing on new recruit Andante.

8 minutes after the restart Reading equalised through Leroy Lita, but we didn’t look the same team, Danny was off and we were struggling to find a way forward with the lack of targets, I was brought on in the 66th minute but could only watch as Reading took the lead, a magnificent goal Shane Long gave them the lead and they went on to win 3-2, three goals from the only 3 shots on target. It wasn’t the best of starts.

Our next game was away to Barnsley and with no new manager Carlos was again in charge, this time I started on the left and managed to play the whole game and did fairly well, Danny once again gave us the lead in the 44th minute and was then subbed at half time, he was baffled and he let go a few heated words in the change rooms directed at Carlos, I was inclined to agree with Danny aswell. Quaresma come on for him and once again we went to a 451 formation, this was just stupid, we hadn’t even practiced with this formation and we were called on to do it in a game with no real match plan. We did well for a team who didn’t really have a clue but Danny Pugh scored an equaliser on the death knock in injury time, 1-1 the scoreline and the stories started to appear about what the hell Carlos was doing. Danny was p*ssed, he’d scored 3 goals in two goals and had only played a half in each.

Finally our new manager was unveiled on the same day we played Middlesborough the 25th, our board had struck a deal with Boro’s and Gareth Southgate was to sit out the game managing no one. It was a battle of the care taker managers at Old Trafford and the end result was another draw. Yakuba opened the scoring in the 3rd minute but Danny equalised in the 44th minute. The half time break had Danny throwing chairs as Carlos informed him he was again subbed, this was just ridiculous, why would you sub your best striker every game at half time, I can see why he didn’t get the managers job.

Gareth Southgate came to the club and we had a big team meeting, he was an enthuastic type of bloke, his soft voice took the edge of the fierceness or passion you could see in his eyes, it was going to be interesting to see where I stood in the occasion, he was an advocate of the 442 system so we would be keeping with that, I just hoped he enough sense to keep Danny on for a full game and maybe moved Wazza up front as well.

Michael Owen left the club before the deadline, a 2.1 million pound seen him off to Recreativo.
Mr Southgate or Gareth as he preferred, organised a one on one meeting with all the players, my meeting went well, he was keen to give me as much time as possible on the wing, he liked my game overall and wanted to see my passion of the game more, question the refs, he said, but do it respectfully, don’t shirk any issues go for broke it was the usual manager spiels but we would see how he handled a game when the time came, we did have a break for Internationals though so his first game wasn’t going to be until the 8th of September which was two weeks away.

retired_manragh

September

Back to Wales to play in my first international back since we missed the Euro championships, Chris Coleman had taken over from Toshie, which was something that eased the feeling of being let down, it was still primarily the same group though, Chris wanted to employ a similar set up to what Toshie had for the first game against Ireland which meant I would play left midfield. I personally had a decent game against the Irish, nothing spectacular as we drew the game 0-0, Chris was a little disappointed but said we needed to regroup now for our trip to Kazakhstan, where he expected nothing but a decent win, and this is where he went over the new formation we would playing, it was 4-1-2-2-1 formation. We had the standard 4 at the back with a defensive midfielder, then we had 2 central midfielders in front of the DM, then there was 2 wingers further up, I was to play on the left while my namesake Simon Davies was on the right, we had a sole striker in Dave Cotterill but me and Simon were expected to push in and both Central midfielders were to push up at every chance, it was a highly attacking setting up, and I was pleased, its something different it made me feel like we were trying to get better.

We dominated the game from start to finish, I played a decent game making a few good interceptions and made a couple excellent runs, but the quality of their team was hardly noteworthy still the 3-0 result brought a smile to Mr Colemans face, he said it was a good first up performance but still expected improvement, Dave Cotterill was given man of the match for his two goals in the game, I feel my confidence returning, maybe we can do something I suppose only time will tell.

Back into England on the 8th and our away game to Aston Villa, it was Gareth’s first game in charge and it didn’t go to well, Alexis was sent off in the 14th minutes and from there we didn’t stand a chance, a 2-0 loss was the end result.

With 8 days break Gareth was doing drills that familiarised the players to his new tactics, it was a basic 442 but not quite as attacking as we were use to, by the time the Liverpool game came around we had worked out most of the details and it was time to put it into practice. We defended well in the game but so did they and the end result was a 0-0 draw at home, not to bad, but not to good either.

I didn’t play in our loss to Plymouth Arglye in the second round of the League Cup, it was mainly a youth side and we paid the price as the Championship division team beat us in a penalty shootout after the scores were deadlocked at 1-1, Gareth didn’t seem to upset but our fans were, the Manchester United forums were full of harsh words about the teams efforts.

If I thought the forums were bad after the Plymouth game you should have seen them after we played Arsenal at Emirates. The 3-1 loss was not well received, Gareth wasn’t pleased with our game at all but he didn’t rant and rave, he pointed out a few key areas where we really needed to improve, personally my game wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that good either.

Finally a few things started to come together for our home game against Charlton, I had a good game and Gareth was definitely pleased with the effort in our 2-0 win, Falcao scored both the goals and earned the man of the match award and even the fans clapped as we walked off the pitch, the forums weren’t the doom and gloom but there was still the knockers there, the win moved us up to 15th place on the league, the next month was going to be all important.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Chelsea | | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Everton | | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | West Ham | | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Birmingham | | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 12 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Middlesbrough | | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Arsenal | | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Newcastle | | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Millwall | | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Aston Villa | | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Reading | | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Sheff Utd | | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Tottenham | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Wigan | | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Coventry | | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Man Utd | | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Crystal Palace | | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Liverpool | | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Man City | | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Charlton | | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Barnsley | | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_manragh

*Due to ongoing problems with my computer, and corrupted data i have had to end this story, thanks to everyone for reading*

1st of December

Although no comment has been issued by Macsen Davies or his management on his progress, other sources have confirmed that he is recovering as well as can be expected, as such we have taken the liberty to give you a few of his stats in his short career.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Year | Team | Division | Info | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Av R | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2012-13 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.90 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2011-12 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 21 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 7.05 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2010-11 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 24 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 6.88 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2009-10 | Dundee Utd | Premier League | Loan | 32 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6.78 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2008-09 | Hartlepool | Championship | Loan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.67 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2008-09 | Man Utd | Premier Division | | 0 | - | - | - | ---- | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2008-09 | Lincoln | League Two | | 21 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7.05 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2007-08 | Lincoln | League Two | £14K | 20 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7.00 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2006-07 | Newport YMCA | | | 33 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6.36 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2005-06 | Newport YMCA | | | 22 | 4 | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
The 21 year old also played 11 games for his country scoring 6 goals.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Statistics | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Yel | Red | Tck | Pass | Sh Tar | Fouls| Fls Ag | Av R | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Non Competitive | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 7.00 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | League | 9 (1)| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.96 | 60 % | - | 18 | 18 | 6.90 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Cup | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ---- | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Continental | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ---- | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | International | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 3 | 12 | 7.25 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Overall | 9 (1)| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.96 | 60 % | - | 18 | 18 | 6.90 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>