retired_edmari1

Season 2006/2007 first team squad



Pkd Inf Name Position Morale Form Con Apps Gls Av Rat
- Wnt Ben Foster GK Good 8 95% - - -
- Mark Schwarzer GK Very Good 9-7-6-6-6 95% - - -
- Edwin van der Sar GK Good 6-7-7-7-7 99% - - -
- Phillip Bardsley D RC Very Good 7-7-7-7-6 96% - - -
- Wes Brown D RC Very Good 7-7-8-9-6 87% - - -
- Gary Neville D RC Very Good 7-7-7-7-7 99% - - -
- Wnt Gabriel Heinze D LC Good 7-6-7-6-7 100% - - -
- John O'Shea D LC Good 7-8-7-7-7 99% - - -
- Rio Ferdinand D C Very Good 8-7-7-8-8 100% - - -
- Wnt Piqué D C Very Good 7-8-7-7-8 99% - - -
- Unh Adam Eckersley D/WB L Very Good 9-6-7-6-7 95% - - -
- Quinton Fortune D/WB L, M LC Very Good 6-7-7-6-7 98% - - -
- Darren Fletcher M RC Very Good 8-7-6-7-7 99% - - -
- Unh Liam Miller M RC Good 6-7-6-6-6 95% - - -
- Wnt Alan Smith M C, ST Good 7-7-7-7-6 95% - - -
- Inj Cristiano Ronaldo AM RL Good 6-8-7-7-6 40% - - -
- Park Ji-Sung AM RLC Very Good 7-6-8-7-7 99% - - -
- Wayne Rooney AM RL, F C Very Good 6-9-8-7-7 96% - - -
- Ryan Giggs AM L Good 8-8-8-8-7 99% - - -
- Kieran Richardson AM LC Very Good 6-8-7-7-7 99% - - -
- John Obi Mikel AM C Very Good 7-6-7-6-7 95% - - -
- Paul Scholes AM C Very Good 8-6-7-7-7 99% - - -
- Giuseppe Rossi AM/F C Good 7-5-7-7-7 94% - - -
- Mark Viduka ST Good 7-8-7-8-7 98% - - -
- Inj Ruud van Nistelrooy ST Good 8-6-10-9-7 38% - - -

retired_bbcarr

Nice to see you've not been put off by the comments, united_forever. And best of luck with the rest of the story (even if it is about them Manc gits :p )

retired_edmari1

Cheers Terk.

Let me say thankyou again my freind.

retired_edmari1

Competition Time

Knowing that the board was behind me, made the pre season a lot easier to go through. I had no problems getting to sleep at night or getting out of bed in the morning. Although I rarely took control of training sessions on a physical level, I kept a very close eye on what was happening, from the coach’s reports to my constant watching of training sessions from my numerous hiding places around the training ground where I would sit and watch to see how training went without me there. The boys were always trying their best which was good to see. Occasionally, my German Shepherd, ‘Siren’, would wonder into the view of the players and I could see many of them trying to step up their work rate even if they were trying their best.

It was now time to start the competitive matches, and the boys were definitely ready from what I could see.. Pre season training had been going extremely well, and I was quietly confident going into the Community Shield match against Arsenal. The morning of Sunday 6th August 2006, I was up particularly early, 05:00, and went for my usual morning run although I usually went at 07:30 not 05:30. On my way through the streets of Manchester, the local bakeries and newsagencies and gas stations were beginning to open up for trading for the day. Jogging by I was given shouts of “Good luck today Antonios” even from those I knew were Manchester City fans. They were all pleased that a Manchester team was in the Community Shield this year. This gave my confidence an even bigger boost. We would win today. I could feel it.

The Match would be played at Wembley in London so I wanted to get there early with the boys. I organised for the team bus to leave Old Trafford at 10:00 am. When we met at Old Trafford the boys were ready to go. They were as energetic as they could be, but that was not how I wanted them. I wanted them relaxed, so I made a point of telling them to get plenty of rest on the bus and to relax.

Waiting in the dressing shed waiting for the time to get out on the field I sat at the end of the room and watched each player and tried to see how they were feeling. Like I wanted, I sensed that they had all calmed down. 14:30 came and I knew I only had 15 minutes to give a pre game team talk. I stood up and walked to the middle of the room, the chattering of the players stopped and they all sat in front of their respective lockers. “Today it’s not about whether you win or lose. It’s about playing the best you can. It’s about going out there and having fun. If we do this, we will win. It’s up to you to decide how you want the game to end. So go out there and have fun boys. Are you ready?!” There was an almighty roar from the players. They were ready, and so they made their way out. I waited in the shed, and looked over my notes that I made for the match one last time before I made my way out just after the whistle blew signalling the start of the match.

I stuck with my ever so faithfull and familiar 4-4-2, opting to play Schwarzer in goals with Gary Neville on the right in the back line with Argentinian Gabriel Heinze on the left and filling up the central back positions were Rio Ferdinand and John O’Shea. In front of them were spanning from right to left, Darren Fletcher, Alan Smith, Paul Scholes and up front were captain Wayne Rooney and Mark Viduka who came in to start for the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The first 20 minutes went well for us as we created a number of chances, although we couldn’t finish them off. The breakthrough should have come for us in the 24th minute went Viduka was fouled in the penalty area, and referee Andy D’Urso awarded us a penalty, but Fletcher couldn’t put it away. Viduka did end up scoring in the 31st minute only to have it disallowed due to him being offside. Half time came and we were still tied at 0-0.

I looked around the room, at each of the guys and said “you’ve had most of the possession, and most of the chances. I can also see that you are all having fun out there which is great to see. Continue that and lets see if we can get an early goal and finish them off. 1 goal is all we need.”

My speech must have gone in one ear and out the other for Schwarzer because in the 50th minute, he decided on his own that he wanted to play in the midfield position and wandered all the way to the half way line with the ball where he was tackled by Henry, who saw the open goal and struck home for Arsenal from 40 yards out. I immediately brought on Edwin van der Sar in Schwarzers place and took off Roone who was not having one of his better days, and brought on Giuseppe Rossi. Rossi made an immediate impact, playing a wonderful through ball to Mark Viduka in the 58th minute who slotted it past Jens Lehmann and put it comfortably in the bottom right hand corner. Henry put another goal in for Arsenal in the 65th minute, and shortly after, in the 69th minute Van Persie, sent Ryan Giggs to hospital for X-rays with a possible torn calf muscle. Keiran Richardson came on as Giggsy’s replacement and made an immediate impact, crossing in from the left for Viduka to head the ball into the back of the net for what was his and the teams second goal for the day.

Normal time ended in a 2-2 draw, and we were into a penalty shootout. I had given my list of penalty kickers to my assistant Carlos Quiroz who habded it to the fourth official, and the ref got the shootout under way.

Arseanl – Lauren scored
Man Utd – Scholes scored
Arsenal – Henry scored
Man Utd – Fletcher scored
Arsenal – Van Persie, shot saved by van der Sar
Man Utd – Smith scored
Arsenal - Ashley Cole scored
Man Utd – Viduka scored
Arseanl – Bergkamp scored
Man Utd – Rossi, shot saved by Lehmann
Arsenal – Ljungbeg scored
Man Utd – Richardson, shot saved by Lehmann

Arsenal won the match on penalties, 5-4. I was still extremely pleased with the effort that the lads put in, and I made a point of letting them know that after the match.

After the match I gave team physio Ian Flynn, who had travelled to the hospital with Giggsy a call, to find out how Giggsy was. I was glad to hear that it was only a claf strain not a tear, although the downside was that he would still be out for at least 3 weeks. Kieran Richardson would now be starting on the left flank in Giggsy’s absence.

retired_aurie

A vast improvement and as I have said before, I'm willing to give anybody the benefit of the doubt. In fact, I'd eat my hat, if I had one And that's despite the fact that you're in charge of the bloomin' mancs

Just a quick pointer though, City fans would never in their lives root for United. It's just not in their genes. Much like the Arsenal and Spurs rivalries and others throughout the UK

retired_edmari1

cheers i'll keep that in mind

retired_lizm5285

unlike us everton and liverpool fans who support each other at all times nice story keep it up

retired_jenny1970

good improvement in the story and keep going. UTD rule

retired_freelander88

Massive improvement in story KUTGW.

Must get back to eating my hat, now where did i put the salt?

retired_edmari1

On the night of the 8th of August 2006, I sat at home in my trophy room, studying tapes of the teams last few matches and tapes of our next opponents, I myself as a manager had never faced Crystal Palace, although I still believed them to be one of the easier teams this season. It must have been approximately 7:30 when Carlos Quiroz called. My wife Dimitra brought the phone to me.

“Hello.”

“Antonios, take a look at totalbet.com. The odds for the league title have been produced.”

I brought up the website on my computer as I spoke to my assistant and on seeing the odds could, not believe it.

“This can’t be right Carlos. They have us as co-favourites for the title along with Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal at 7-4.”

“I know.”

“How can this be? We were 11, 12, and 16 points in front of those teams respectively.”

“I don’t understand it either.”

“So they think that we can’t defend our title this year? Well, we will have to prove them wrong won’t we? Carlos, come in a bit earlier tomorrow. Let’s say 08:30 instead of 09:30. I want to change training around a bit and see if we can come up with some new formations. I don’t want other teams to think now in light of these odds that they know how we play. We are going to surprise everyone.”

“Ok Antonios. See you in the morning.”

“See you Carlos.”

On putting down the phone I realised that I had left some of the coach’s reports that I wanted, at the office. I drove down to get them. On exiting the office complex, while walking towards my car, a reporter from the Times, stopped me to ask a few questions.

“Mr Kinnas. Mr Kinnas. It has been said that Manchester United are only being seen as possible Title winners this season. What are your comments?”

“My comment is this. Manchester United is the team to beat this season. We will defend our Premier Division Title and our League Cup title.”

“What about the FA Cup coach? Will Manchester United choke again?”

“Choke! Choke! I have the most talented and determined group of players in the league. We will win and that is that.”