Tag: Liverpool

Burst The bubbles – East London 5th of January 2013

Gutted, absolutely gutted, were the West Ham fans in the Priory Road/East Stand at the Boleyn Ground when Robin Van Persie equalised just into injury time yesterday. It was a very pleasing sight after all the gloating that had been going on in the previous twenty minutes. The noise from the West Ham fans, in anticipation of victory was reaching a level of crescendo until Van Persie burst the bubbles. The sudden heartbroken silence was a joy to behold followed by the sheer terror in the ranks of the ‘appy ammas’ (sic) as they suddenly realised there was going to be a siege on their goal for the last two minutes. When Van Persie equalised, the result of a truly brilliant crossfield switch pass from Ryan Giggs, I could see United getting a winner. That United didn’t was down to two dreadful finishes, one from Shinji Kagawa and the other from Antonio Valencia seconds before referee Martin Atkinson blew the final whistle.

Continue reading Burst The bubbles – East London 5th of January 2013

A team of lemon sherbets – Manchester United V Newcastle United Boxing day 2012

In a match that had seven goals United took the lead for the first time in the game on the cusp of injury time when Javier Hernández forced the ball home after Wallsend old boy, Michael Carrick threaded the ball through for him score. The lethargy in Newcastle’s performance became obvious after Robin van Persie equalised for the third time for United on 71 minutes. For all that, Sammy Ameobi hit the post on 87 to give Old Trafford yet another heart stopping moment.

Continue reading A team of lemon sherbets – Manchester United V Newcastle United Boxing day 2012

Rooney out for a duck at Swansea – Swansea V Manchester United 23rd of December 2012

Wayne Rooney had a stinker; couldn’t put a foot right all day. For as bad a game as he had, you still think that there would be a moment of genius or magic from him where the game would turn but Sir Alex Ferguson eventually ran out of patience and substituted him for Ryan Giggs on 79 minutes. As for Giggs, you could hear the grown from United fans reverberating around the valleys when he was brought on. Giggs caused Swansea more problems in the last ten minutes than Rooney had even dreamt of in the preceeding eighty.

Upper tier of the away stand at Swansea (Photo courtesy of Josh Norton)

Continue reading Rooney out for a duck at Swansea – Swansea V Manchester United 23rd of December 2012

In the cold light of day – Norwich City V Manchester United, November 17th 2012

I could be all philosophical about this. In the cold light of day, we are (give or take) a third of the way through the season and two points off the leaders, having beaten both Liverpool and Chelsea away and Arsenal at home. All said though, after this performance, pragmatic philosophy is of no comfort. I was convinced before the season kicked off that Chelsea and Arsenal were all talk and the title race was between United and City. The results today haven’t changed anything; Chelsea won’t win the title and unless United do something dramatic in January, say bring Roy Keane out of retirement or something akin, then this title race is City’s to lose. Man City, who have been having a post title winning hangover that we ourselves experienced in 1999 are, for all that, still unbeaten in the league. United have lost three times this season and for two and half of those matches, United’s performances have been a disgrace.

 

 

Continue reading In the cold light of day – Norwich City V Manchester United, November 17th 2012

Hillsborough – How does Duckenfield sleep ?

Trevor Hicks, a man who lost his two daughters in the Hillsborough disaster, has behaved as leader of the Hillsborough Family Support Group with a calm dignity throughout the long, hard and ultimately succesful quest for truth (justice is another thing altogether). That’s not to say however that everything he says is correct. Such is the obvious emotive nature of the Hillsborough disaster that victims families have been given carte blanche to set the agenda into reform. If for example, anybody opposes all seater stadia, as many people in Liverpool itself does, then it’s as if they’re pissing on the memory of the victims of Hillsborough. This morning, I heard Trevor Hicks, along with Liverpool supporting Daily Mirror writer Brian Reade, on the Nicky Campbell breakfast show express the opinion that “One of the very few good things that’s come out of Hillsborough is that all seater stadiums are much better family enviroments where we don’t have a bunch of thugs going around swearing at each other”. That Hicks is an eloquent and decent man who’s tirelessly chased the truth from a lying police force and an ostrich like Labour and Tory government is beyond doubt. That said, it doesn’t give him any moral or legal authority to decree that everybody’s safer now in football stadia due to them being all seater.

Continue reading Hillsborough – How does Duckenfield sleep ?