Manchester United Blog & Man United News | Stretford End Arising

By Chris Mortlock 1. Phil Jones: The only positive If there’s something we’ve learned about Phil Jones since he arrived from Blackburn in 2011, it’s how versatile he is. Whatever position he’s asked to play, he nearly always excels; whether that’s at right full-back, centre-half, or putting out fires in central midfield. Still just 20, [...]

By Chris Mortlock 1. An all important three points, but maybe one to forget Should we do the inevitable and go on to lift our 20th title, few will remember Saturday’s game against Reading. The reverse fixture in December was one of the most entertaining games of the season; Saturday’s was anything but. City’s pathetic [...]

By Chris Mortlock 1. Evans justified his place in the starting XI I, like many, expected Vidic to start alongside Ferdinand at the Bernabéu; his experience alone warranted a place in the staring XI – especially in a game of such magnitude. Listening to Sir Alex ahead of kick-off, though, it made sense to start [...]

By Chris Mortlock 1. We can still keep clean-sheets So that’s what a clean sheet feels like. Twenty-eight goals conceded and just four clean-sheets in twenty games isn’t exactly Championship winning form, is it? Or is it? The table doesn’t lie! The ‘you score three, we’ll score four‘ mentality seems to be a winning one [...]

By Matthew Jones 1. No 1 at Christmas It’s a familiar sight. Manchester United, top of the tree at Christmas. It’s been far from pretty so far this season; we’ve had some ups and downs. We’ve been unlucky with injuries and we’ve certainly ridden our luck at times, but traditionally we’ve grinded out results and [...]

By Richard Evans 1.Welbeck not wide With Antonio Valencia and Nani both missing the game through injury, Sir Alex opted to deploy Danny Welbeck on the wing, clearly hoping his pace and directness would open up QPR. However as has been the case on a number of previous occasions, Welbeck was largely anonymous, and every [...]

By Matthew Jones MOST of the talk so far this season has been about our pretty porous defence and how we can’t start games properly. But honestly, with our most potent strike force since the treble winning season of 1999 at Sir Alex Ferguson’s disposal, should we care? Manchester United are the kings of the [...]

By Matthew Jones 1. Time to party like it’s 1999 Sir Alex said once we acquired Robin van Persie in the summer that he had a talented corps of strikers, a group that reminded him (as it did some fans) of our treble winning season in ’99. I actually think it’s even better. Andy Cole, [...]

By Thomas Doyle 1. Attack is the only form of defence at the moment Despite winning by two clear goals, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side once again did things the hard way. An early deficit could have become much worse had David de Gea not made two smart stops to deny Charlie Adam and John Walters. [...]

By Lee Savery A hat-trick of goals (but not all in the right end) from Wayne Rooney featured in a feast of goals at Old Trafford. A match against Stoke City is always a tricky one but Manchester United were able to leave with the three points but once again had to come from behind [...]