My Captain

Soon Moyes  ...... and his team will have to make one of their toughest decisions, naming the next Manchester United Captain. This captaincy is not an easy job and its definitely not as glamorous as it looks. It has its moments, lots of them actually, and it has its bad side; if being worshipped by millions of people from every corner of this world is a problem for you, then this is the worst job you can ever imagine.

I don't have a say (YET) on who will be our next Captain. But looking back at some Captains I still love and adore, here are five qualities our next Captain needs to have:

So Long Captain Vidic

OUR Captain, OUR Vidic, OUR Serbian Terminator! It's been eight very short years. For eight years we watched you bleed for United ....

 
....put your body and safety on the line for United

....be half of what was one of the best partnerships in world football

After all the hard and dangerous work, for three season you lifted trophies.

It always sucks when players leave and when it is the likes of Vida, it hurts even more. 287 matches and he was on the losing side for only 41 of them. Old Trafford was a nightmare to our opponents when Vidic played. 135 matches at the Theatre of Dreams and we conceded 80 goals and lost only 11 games.

Seven red cards and three of them came while playing Liverpool, we would say Vidic picked up right where his predecessor Gary left off with a £5000 celebration. And that is not a complaint.

We wish Vidic all the best and hope his future club knows what a good, loyal player they will have. And as for me, I am starting to pack my support and ready to follow Vidic on his next challenge. While doing that, I can't help but wonder, who'll fucking murder 'em now?

Thank you Vidic for eight very wonderful and memorable years. The Red army salutes you Captain.

Ready or Not: Spurs

Manchester United will play 9 matches between December 1st and December 28th. That is an average of one match after every three days. This will exhaust the players but the holidays season could not be any better! At least I will not complain about how much Tv subscription costs me!

Task at hand, a trip to White Hart Lane. This will be the 179th meeting between the two clubs, even though United enjoys an overall positive record of 84 wins from 178 matches, trips to Spurs are not as impressive as we have suffered 31 losses from 86 matches.

Bragging Points: Since year 2000, we have faced Spurs a total of 31 times, lost 2, drew 7 and won 22! One of those two losses was self inflicted as Evans scored an own goal in a 2-3 loss at Old Trafford.

As easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

5 words for this picture: FIVE ASSISTS AND A CAPTAIN.

Don't let that title fool you. Easy ends at three, you don't agree? Well, let's see how many Nos you will have for these questions;

1. Can you count one to five in five different languages?
2. Can you write Welbz's five names without checking on Wikipedia?
3. Can you name the five Reds who made their debuts on this date (November 28th)?
4. Can you name five celebrities that Rio hasn't met?
5. Can you name five UCL records that Man United are yet to break?

Ready or Not: Arsenal

No better way to start this post than with that photo of van Persie!

Arsenal are facing United for the 217th time. They have enjoyed only 17 wins of the 103 matches at the Theatre of Their Nightmares Dreams scoring 87 goals and conceded 192. That is an impressive +105 goal difference!

After this match, the best we can do is second place while the worst is tenth place. Well, coming from the bottom half just a few weeks ago that says a lot about our current form.

Arsenal should not be taken lightly though. Top of the league while leaving second placed Chelsea five points behind says enough about their Ozil form.

Here and there

PoM

Player of the month polls are on. Who is your player of the month?

Was it De Gea? The flying Spaniard who made what the great Schmeichel called 'the best save in the history of premier league' and impressed so much that Chicharito declared him 'the best goal keeper in the world.'?
 

Ready or Not: Fulham

A few hours from now Man United will be facing Fulham. This is the first away game for United since Oct 5th. The Champions will step into this determined to keep the unbeaten run going. So far, we haven't lost any of our past six matches in all competitions, and we have played all completions; Champions League, Capital One and the league.

Happy 32nd Captain!

Today our Captain is turning 32.

Captain at work!

Reds marching to Brazil

Until 19th we will just have to be satisfied with seeing the team in pieces as they represent their countries.

Here is who to watch and when:

 

 

Luis Nani - Portugal are a point behind Russia in their group but have one advantage: They play their next two matches at home. Portugal hosts Israel on 11th and Luxemburg on 15th.

Shakhtar Donetsk: A cold point

Picture perfect.

We would all have loved 3 points but a point is not so  bad. As group standings, we are second to Shakhtar but we have same points and same goal difference. On 23rd this month we will host Real Sociedad and Shakhtar will host Bayer Leverkusen.

Our next opponents are yet to win a match. They suffered a 0-2 home defeat to Shakhtar and lost 1-0 to Leverkusen. Bring on Real Sociedad.

Rooney picked another injury during training! It doesn't seem to be serious as Moyes planned to use him as a sub but decided against it as to not risk any further complications. Moyes also promised that Rooney will be ready for a trip to Sunderland this week end. And this time it was Welbeck. Does Welbz have a magic touch like Jones? Only time will tell....

WBA: The Aftermath

Majanga!

Rooney, Evans and Januzaj doing the walk of defeat as Big Dave looks so small!

If I thought the derby was something I needed to forget, I had second thoughts after that shocking unpredictable loss to West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford. And that what makes it even worse, it was at our very own home and it was West Brom! I don't know what hurts more, losing at home to a team that we have been beating back and forth for years or loosing at OT. The combination is killing me!

It started with Robin's injury. Then followed a number of missed chances. Then a very disappointing Rio. Is age catching up with Rio or was he just having a bad day? We don't expect him to be as quick as when he was in his mid 20s but that was one disappointing (sorry, I don't know what other word to use here) show from him.

A Derby To Forget

It will get better.

There is absolute nothing I want to remember about yesterday. Rooney's goal was a beauty but if I have to go through four very painful events to get to it, then No thank you, I'll pass.

I wish I could call Damon the vampire and he could do that vampire thing he does to make people forget.

But I will just have to live with it. Besides, If I forget that bad experience I will not fully appreciate and celebrate the better days that are surely coming.

Red Monday: Luka and Stefan Vidic

(ManUtd vs Noisy Neighbors) vs Vidic match day conversation

Was just looking for something else when I saw this! Made me laugh. Vidic's replies are so on-point!

They Got My Attention: Fabregas, Red Soldiers, Rooney, De Gea, Alcantara + Welbeck

ONE: Fabregas

Are you all having a fabregas Tuesday?


So, we are back to Cesc Fabregas! This one I like and hate at the same time. Like it because I would loooove to see Fabregas in a red MUFC shirt and hate it because after the Alcantara issue, I am not sure I can handle another heart break!

The Sun say their source confirmed that Cesc would rather go to Old Trafford than a trip back to Arsenal. I just hope it is not the same source who said Alcantara signed a 5 year deal with MUFC.

Sky Sports reports the same thing adding that Manchester United has made a

£25m bid for the midfielder but Barcelona think Cesc is worth more than that. 

Last month Cesc said;

They Got My Attention: Moyes, Sir Alex, Vidic + Rio

By: @Zamaradi_M

 

1. David Moyes

He had all my attention! First press conference as MUFC manager, which in my humble and very unbiased opinion, couldn't go any better!

On Baba Kai:

They already had that talk in which he told Rooney about the possibilities of overtaking Sir Charlton's goalscoring record. Rooney is only 52 goals away.

And it is now official that Rooney is not for sale and will continue to play for Manchester United. He didn't say for how long but fact that he will be there next season is all we care about. Where will he be in the 2014/2015 season? We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

On Sir Alex:

Sir Alex does not intimidate Moyes. In fact, he hopes the former Boss will be sitting at the Director's box!

On Scholes:

Moyes spent two hours on the phone with Paul Scholes who wants time to be with his family before he decides what to do but he has also been told that there will always be a place for him at Manchester United. Duh, like he didn't know!

By the way, two hours talking with Scholes! I bet he just broke one of Sir Alex's records right there and definitely set a new world record. Scholes talking for two hours! Impressive.

On Cristiano:

"This club is always interested in the best players."

And since Ronaldo is the best player then Manchester United is interested in him. And since Ronaldo is also interested in us ........ (you can figure out the rest of this story.)

Me: This guy really did his homework!

On Alcantara new signings:

Asked if he will have a new player before the pre season tour (between July 13th to August 6th) he didn't make any promises but said he'll try. Well, we can live with that.

On Classic quotes:

One of my worries was definitely cleared yesterday. You know those classic Sir Alex's quotes that we thought we were going to miss. Relax, Moyes got that part covered too. And just to give you a taste of what he has in store for us;

"I come to a club where success is tattooed across its badge."

 How about this?

"Old Trafford is the place you want to go."

Me: Moyes, how did you know? Of course it is THE place I want to go.

 Source: Headquarters

 

 

2. Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex was not at the press conference but the way Moyes replayed how he was offered the job, you just couldn't ignore Sir Alex!

I love how Sir Alex was Sir Alex when he first told him that he is going to be the next MUFC Manager. Apparently, Sir Alex asked him to his house which Moyes expected was to tell him that 'I am going to take one of your players.' This got me asking, so, Sir Alex did this when he was taking Rooney? Called Moyes and told him, 'I am going to take Rooney.' How bossy!

Okay, enough with recreating pasts. When Sir Alex told Moyes that he was going to retire this is how it all went down;

Sir Alex: I am going to retire.

Moyes: Yeah, when? *with I had that before look on his face*

Sir Alex: Next week.

Moyes: *Surprised face*

Sir Alex: And you're the next Manchester United Manager.

So, Sir Alex made Moyes an offer he couldn't wouldn't refuse! And that 'You're the next Manchester United manager' was so final! Like Moyes didn't have a choice. How could you blame him, it's Manchester United, we call you answer.

Me: Thank you Sir Alex for everything and thank you for Moyes.

 Source: Headquarters

3. Nemanja Vidic

Two things about Vidic, I like how he plays with no fear and the way he commands with just his presence, we couldn't possibly have a better Captain.

And the second thing is, don't we all agree that he could make one scary gangsta?

Back to non-fiction, as expected Captain Vidic was there for Moyes' press conference. He talked about the respect they had for Moyes even when he was with Everton, how players are excited to work with him and how they will do whatever they can to make sure that Moyes achieves what he wants to achieve with MUFC. I like that they put their desires aside and work on Moyes' and that they want to impress him. And since Moyes wants to win trophies, well, then trophies we are going to get.

Vidic also said that he has spoken with Rooney but it was not about his future. Could it be because his future will be just as his present which means no need to waste precious time on that?

And on Rooney he said;

"He's in very good shape, the best shape in the last five years."

I think this quote needs a little bit of explanation. What Vidic meant was the way he sees Rooney at training, he is in his best shape of the past five years. He did not mean that 2012/2013 was Rooney's best season in five years. Because that, even I would question!

Source: Sportsmole  and goal.com

Do you remember this look?

NOTE: These They Got My Attention posts are not a daily thing. I post when I can and of course when I want. Just don't expect a daily fix.

For the Ladies...

This one here goes to all our female supporters.... Just don't say we forget you....

Hope Monday will no longer be blue and you will forget what happened yesterday....