retired_sachin_g006

Results:
13/9: Champs League - A - D.Kiev 3-1 w (Saha 2, Torres)
18/9: Prem - H - Chelsea 0-0
23/9: Prem - A - Reading 3-1 (Torres 2, Saha)
26/9: Champs League - H - Lyon 3-3 (Torres, Saha 2)

Prem: 3rd
Champs League: 1st in group
Top Scorers: Saha 6
Torres 4
Ronaldo 1
D.Bent 1
OG 1

retired_sachin_g006

1st October: The last couple of days the players had been training hard after there performance against Lyon, I was pleased with the way Bent was training especially after his little moan to me about not playing much, but when Torres and Saha were going as well as they were I couldn’t really split them up… However with a reasonably easy game away to Everton tomorrow I thought I would give him his shot, so I put Torres on the bench and brought Bent in for him that was the only change I was going to make

2nd October: Everton v Manchester United:
Keeping my attacking line up which had work quite well apart from the second half against Lyon, we kicked off, and what a start we had with Scholes scoring after only 35 seconds, the perfect start I thought (maybe they wanted the next day off), but yet again a lack in concentration in the defence and Everton scored in the 5th minute…. Was it going to be one of those days?
After a quick verbal from the touchline from me the players knew I wasn’t happy and went straight on the attack and 2 minutes later Saha slotted home from a Giggs cross the perfect reply from then on we was dominant with Rooney going close 2 or 3 times, I could see the look of despair on his face, I wonder if his goal drought was beginning to get to him. With the game in full flow a quick one two between Bent and Saha saw Saha slot home his second of the game on the 28th minute... With us coasting I started to wonder whether we would do a Lyon again, surely not. But on the 43rd minute G.Neville all but wrapped the game up for us with a cross come shot that sailed into the top corner, I don’t know who was more shocked me or him.
At half time I took Rooney off and brought on Cattermole just to tighten up the midfield, in which he did a perfect job, the second half seemed a quiet affair until Everton hit us on the break and scored late on for a consolation goal... Overall a good performance and the perfect reply from the last game...
Everton 2 – 4 Manchester United (Scholes 1, Saha 7, 28, G.Neville 43)

With the international break it meant I had till the 14th for my next game a home match against Portsmouth, our bogey team over the last couple of seasons…

retired_dbs949

good read so far, keep it up!

retired_sachin_g006

cheers jmknight will do

retired_sachin_g006

14th October: Manchester United v Portsmouth:
With all the players coming back fit from the international break apart from Lennon who has a slight hamstring strain I was quietly optimistic about the forth coming game, the starting line up is the same apart from Cattermole is replacing Lennon, Torres is still on the bench but will play the some time in the second half.
The game started well with a lot of free flowing football, Portsmouth giving as good as they were getting. Lua Lua came close on a couple of occasions and if it wasn’t for Van Der Saar we could have been a couple of goals down. But it was us that made the first break and it was Saha who finished a superb move to round the keeper and slot home on the 24th minute…
The second half began much as the first half finished with both teams coming close; again Lua Lua was causing my defence some problems. With 6 minutes gone Lua Lua broke free of our defence to score the equaliser. With Saha beginning to look tired from his internationals I brought on Torres in replacement hoping his fresh legs would tire out the Portsmouth defenders. Unfortunately my plan backfired as within 3 minutes of coming on Torres was forced off injured with what looked like a bad ankle injury, on comes Park Ji Sung .
With the came coming to a close Sung played a perfect through ball for Bent to run onto and score on the 80th minute, with it at 2-1 I was happy especially with our lapses in defence recently, but no sooner had I started working out what was going to be said at full time Cattermole dragged down Heskey in the area to give Portsmouth a penalty and earn Cattermole a red card for a professional foul which I found a little harsh, up steps Lua Lua for the penalty which he blasted hard towards the goal but straight at Van Der Saar.

Manchester United 2 – 1 Portsmouth (Saha 24, D.Bent 80)

retired_sachin_g006

15th October:
After a good win yesterday I satrted to think about the next game away to Benfica knowing a win and good results elsewhere would qualify us for the 1st knockout stage, the physio came in to let me know that Torres would be out for anything up to a month, but that he would be able to play with injections if need be, I decided against that too much chance of injuring himself worse, especially against a rough Benfica side....

retired_sachin_g006

17th October: Benfica v Manchester United:
Starting line up; Van Der Saar, G.Neville, Silvestre, O’Shea, Hienze, Giggs, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Saha, D.Bent
With Torres out Bent started the game like a man possessed, trying to persuade me that he warrants a place in the starting eleven, but after recent stories in the press I am going to have to have chat with him sometime, anyway back to the game…
Saha was causing the Benfica defence a lot of problems and after only 8 minutes he scored with an absolute peach of a header from a Ronaldo cross, which didn’t go down to well with the Benfica fans (this time he didn’t give the fans the finger though) The team were playing the best football I had seen in a long while and were dominating Benfica. That domination paid dividends on the 29th minute when Scholes scored an easy tap in from 5 yards, at half time I told all the players they had to make sure there was no repeat of the Lyon game, with those instructions ringing in there ears they kept the ball well and played a very professional 45 minutes, D.Bent was substituted on the 75th minute and replaced by Solskjaer, boy Bent didn’t look happy but if he doesn’t like it he can always be playing against Tottenham reserves in there next game…

Benfica 0 -2 Manchester United (Saha 8, Scholes 29)

18th October: With 7 points out of 9 in the Champions League I knew a win against Benfica in a fortnight at Old Trafford would secure our place in the next round as group winners, which would mean missing teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid.

20th October: With a tough game against an on form Aston Villa who hadn’t lost at home all season next, I was figuring out my next starting line up when the secretary comes in with the morning papers…
My good mood over the past few days went the moment I saw the back page story… ““Bent Over in Anger at Wilson” The story read that Bents agent stated that his client was fed up with playing second fiddle to Torres and Saha and deserved a starting place…
After training I got him into the office to explain, he didn’t even try and deny the story... I told him in no uncertain terms that I was the boss and that if he didn’t like it he can go elsewhere, with that he walked out the office without even an apology

21st October: Aston Villa v Manchester United:
With Bent now playing for the reserves for the foreseeable future I changed the formation to a 4-5-1 for 2 reasons, I wanted to keep the midfield packed plus my other striker Alan Smith wasn’t ready for a full 90 minutes.
The game started well with the midfield doing its job and keeping possession, Scholes was playing well and on the 13th minute setup Saha for our first goal, the first half went well and we went into half time one nil up, at half time I changed it round and brought Smith on and changed the formation to a conventional 4-4-2, the plan was working until Villa scored late on in the game through Moore (who was a transfer target I wanted earlier), the game ended 1-1 with me thinking maybe I shouldn’t of changed from a 4-5-1, but hey you learn from your mistakes

Aston Villa 1 – 1 Manchester United (Saha 13)

retired_kylee10

Great read!!! lovin the story :thup:


KUTGW

retired_sachin_g006

thanks ole will do, next installment coming soon

retired_sachin_g006

25th October: Manchester United v Nottingham Forest (League Cup 3rd Round)
With Forest struggling in league one I decided to bring some of my reserve and younger players in with only Kuszczak, Solskjaer, Smith, Scholes and Evra from the first team squad...
With the game only 15 minutes old Forest slipped the ball behind the defence to take a shock lead that silence the 35,000 crowd, we were simply not playing well enough and this continued throughout the game as we were battered by Forest and by half time we were lucky to be only one nil down, at half time I ripped into the players and told them this was no way to play and that they should be embarrassed by there performance.
The second half started ok for us, we kept the ball better but after about 10 minutes we started playing stupid balls forward and eventually Forest came at us on the counter attack and scored again, the crowd started booing and I don’t blame them as this was the worst performance I had seen….
Manchester United 0 – 2 Nottingham Forest

26th October: My first loss as a manager and boy did it hurt, especially against a team like Forest, to make my mood even better was the news that Scholes was out injured for 6 weeks with a broken arm. I told the reserve coach Brain McClair to make sure the reserves did extra training and by the look of them after training they must have been worked like mad.

28th October: Manchester United v Charlton:
With a close to full strength squad I was hoping that they would put the recent defeat behind me, Saha most certainly did this after 14 minutes by scoring with his left foot, a good start to the game I thought but against the run of play Charlton scored on the 24th minute and quickly followed that up with another on the 29th. The crowd were as shocked as me, not the example I was hoping the first teamers would show the reserves. With the second half coming close I was contemplating what to say and who to substitute, but on the 38th minute Aaron Lennon latched onto a Ronaldo pass and chipped the on rushing keeper beautifully, at the half time break the players knew what I thought, but the second half they did nothing to improve my mood by being completely out played by a rampant Charlton side, we was lucky to finish they game still on level terms.

Manchester United 2 – 2 Charlton (Saha 14, Lennon 38)

30th October: The board meeting went well with the chairman stating he was happy with things at the moment but wasn’t happy about the recent cup exit to Forest, plus the fact that Chelsea were getting abit of a lead on us, but I reassured him that the gap was nothing was to worry about and by May he will see us top