ManU Thoughts and Champions League Goodness

Welcome back boys and girls to another installment of "Me Talking Junk," a blog dedicated to my passion for Spurs and disdain for just about every other team in the Premiership. This week's edition poses the question; Is Man U really this good and are we really that bad? The answer is a resounding NO to both. How do you feel about that, Martin?

I like Gooaaald!

Thank you, Mr. Soprano. Watching Saturday's game gave me a lift that I never thought I would receive watching a loss. After the first portion of the game where United were the better team, I thought Spurs became the dominate side in the match. However, as Arsenal are so good at proving this year, (*hahaha*) dominating the match and controlling possession do not automatically lead to goals. The lack of finishing this year is shocking and hopefully the flood gates will open at Prague in the UEFA Jug on Thursday and will carry on through against Fulham this Saturday. The uplifting part of that 1-nil defeat at Salford was our defense. Chimbonda was a beast in right back and his royal highness Ledley King made a very successful comeback from injury in the center. Assou-Ekotto was very good on the left but couldn't make any runs into the opponent's half because of the lack of quality on that side of midfield and also to protect against a counter attack when Chimbonda decided to take on the Lennon role laying in crosses on the right. Zokora was coming into his own in the middle and Ghaly had a good premier on the right for the injured Aaron Lennon. Davids. Ugh. Jenas. Ugh. Both had a shocking game, even though Jenas improved a little in so much as he didn't hit row Z on a regular basis this game. I would have liked to have had Berbatov up front, but with his knock he picked up on one of the many utterly useless Euro 2008 qualifiers, it just wasn't in the cards. Mido was misused in that he was more on the left than sitting up front and missed 2 great chances to equalize. It was very nice to see him back in the squad from my perspective and once he gets his form back, I rate him to do great things again this year. Keane was a bit of a non factor again in this game, which dismayed me. I honestly think Spurs should play a diamond formation in the middle with Zokora playing the holding role and Keane playing right behind the strikers. He could be deadly in that sort of position as he proved in a similar role against Sheffield as he roamed all over the pitch. Sound good, Martin?

Yesh. Shexy. He's very toit. Toit like a toigerrrrr.

Granted, Jol probably isn't reading my blog right now, so I don't see this Keane thing happening.

On the flip side, Manchester United looked very average for me once they scored their goal. Rooney and Scholes were out, but that still doesn't take away from the ineptitude of Saha up front and their defense who was caught a few times looking at Mido and Defoe run right into the box unmarked only to miss very, very easy headers. I don't see this 100% record lasting beyond September and, again I'll say it, if they get some injuries, they are done for.

Champions League Goodness

It is the dawn of the greatest club tournament in the world. No, not the Canadian Football League, but the UEFA Champions League. The Champions League is responsible, in part, to me writing this article today. Without the amazing Liverpool comeback in the final, I'm not doing this today. Last season, I was still a fledgling football fan and the League was all very surreal to me. I didn't quite get the full gravity of the situation. This year, I recorded the draw on Setanta and pretty much re-organized my television service for the sole purpose of getting a maximum 4 games every day of pure CL splendor.

This season has some particularly fun groups, the first of which being Group A with 3 quality teams: Barcelona, Chelsea, and Werder Bremen. As expected today, Barcelona took Levski Sofia out to the woodshed and spanked their bottoms 5-0. The result I did NOT want to see was Chelsea blanking Bremen 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. I really want Werder Bremen to supplant Chelsea or Barca and get that second place finish in the group. However, that game may have snapped me back into reality as that dream of mine may already be fading to black.

Rooting for Liverpool in the CL, I was satisfied for the away draw at PSV, but I'm concerned about the lack of movement through the midfield and also, and more importantly, what the hell is Benitez doing leaving Gerrard, Garcia, and Alonso on the bench? He never went there to win, in my opinion, and was solely looking at this weekend's clash with Chelsea. I predict the Pool and PSV coming out of group C.

Wednesday's fun game for me is Manchester United hosting Celtic. Harkening back to the days of William Wallace, thousands of screaming, drunk Scotsmen will be charging out of the north to give cheer to their club at Old Trafford for their first Champions League group stage fixture. I pray, I hope, I fantasize that Celtic nick a win against their greatest export besides Trainspotting; Sir Alex Ferguson. I wonder if SAF deep down would be all that upset to lose to a Scottish side. After all, he coaches in the country that is Scotland's neighbor. I will be rooting for Glasgow United all the way in this one. And I'm sure Dave O'brien will be cheering right alongside me.

Lastly, I will speak of Arsenal's group. Not the pansy draw they got last year, is it? Hamburg, Porto, and the Moscow. Not exactly Prague, Ajax, and FC Thun. I love this draw for Arsenal for all the wrong reasons if you happen to be an Arsenal fan. This is a tough draw, and a 3rd place finish would please me to no end. Oh, a bit off track here, TWO POINTS IN 3 GAMES. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, had to gloat a bit. And before you curse me though the internet and retorting that you have a game in hand on us and we only have 3 points, I'll say this. I don't care! We're still above you in the league and as long as we remain as such, I'll gloat and shit talk all I want. Anyway, back to the group. Having to start away to Hamburg without TH14 is a big blow and a loss right off the bat could crush the fragile psyche that perpetually is Arsenal FC. Porto is no easy side to play against and having to travel to Moscow in mid October isn't exactly an enticing opportunity for anyone. At least it isn't in December in the middle of those fun Russian winters they seem to love so much over there. Too bad. Arsenal to finish 3rd and then get dumped by us in the Jug.

I could go on and on about the rest of the Champions League, but I really don't want to right now, so there. This blog ends...............now.