THE END OF THE REIGNI had wanted to put "the beginning of the end" as the title but I thought that saying it's the
beginning of the end for Man Utd isn't exactly accurate. WHY? Because Man Utd has not been able to perform consistently since a few yrs back. Somehow, winning that treble back in 1999 might have already been a signal that things are not going to be easy in the new millenium. Why was it a signal? Cos when you manage to sweep all the possible trophies on offer in one season, your players are better known to the world. Then, you probably can't keep the original trophy-winning team together for long. The manager also becomes very very famous although he doesn't get poached that easily. Well, that seems to hold at least in the case of Man Utd, as this certain manager we have in the club just wanna stay put.
So, anyway when your players become more famous, other clubs become interested. Then u start selling some and buying some. Buying can be good, but somehow, I prefer those who have grown up as a Man Utd trainee and stayed with Man Utd all the while. Well, I definitely welcome players from other clubs but please, get those who show consistency...Don't just buy cos the player is like superb for one season or two. Sigh...
I happened to be able to follow the game through live radio commentary, which was as good as watching a live match on TV....cos the commentators did their job with such gusto and zest that I felt I was watching the game with visuals. At times, my heart was racing so fast, which usually happens only if I watch a live game on TV.
Ok so this is not the whole point. The point is Man Utd had so many chances but none materialised. 25 shots but none went past Jens Lehmann? thats freaky. Either there was an imaginary brick wall that couldn't be seen by the naked eye or Lehmann was damn good on that day. Of course, when we put supernatural forces aside, we must say that Lehmann had performed exceptionally well on a day when the Man Utd team had attacked in numbers. Kudos to him...I hate Arsenal for being a close rival of Man Utd, but I know I can't blame them for winning the trophy. If you lose and you say it's got everything to do with the opponent, then you must be the
ultimate loser.
Well, it was a pity the match had to be decided by penalties but hey if you can't even convert at least 1 out of 25 chances, you can't blame the opponent's goalkeeper. Although I think that Ferdinand was not offside when he got the rebound into the net[the replay on TV showed he wasn't offside], surely the remaining shots made could have at least got into the back of the net, at least once or twice?
So, what can we gather from this? Hmm, perhaps it's time for the manager to go. Some reporters have said that having stayed so long at the club, the one great manager we have come to respect has finally run out of ideas trying to inspire the team. The problem is he doesn't want to go. He wants to stay at least 3 seasons more, supposedly to watch the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher grow to become world-class players.
3 seasons more is a long time. Must we wait so long? By that time, players from other big clubs would have reached their prime as well and they'll perform damn well too...then we'll be back to square one. What's making it more difficult is that Fergie's rivals are backing him to stay. Haha I can see the reason why. If I were Fergie's rival and my club is like one of the top 3, I would definitely wanna watch the complete downfall of my rival club. Well, even if I don't wanna see its complete downfall[cos competition can be said to be healthy for your own progress], I would be happy if my rival is less threatening to me. No wonder rivals want him to stay....
I can only pray that future decisions made will be good for the club as a whole and that this defeat at the hands of the Gunngers will not be the end of the Red Devils. Having Glazer as the main shareholder makes things more complicated i think, with all the debts and what not. I can only hope for better days to come....
I painted my dreams at
1:54 AM
