Manchester United Blog & Man United News | Stretford End Arising

By Matt Dodd Although Manchester United have virtually sealed the signings of goalkeeper David De Gea, defender Phil Jones and striker Ashley Young, the chequebook could come in handy once again as United hunt for a inventive midfielder to fill the vacancy which Paul Scholes has left behind. The announcement of the ginger legend’s retirement [...]

By Matt Dodd. 1) Beautiful Barcelona Simply sublime. Described by Ferguson as “the best team I have faced”, Barcelona gave United another lesson in football. Instead of evoking poignant memories from ’68 when Manchester United won their first European Cup at Wembley 10 years after Munich, the only memories evoked were those two years ago [...]

By Matt Dodd. 1) Done and dusted Champions. It’s rarely done the easy way with Manchester United, and Saturday was no different. A 73rd minute spot-kick from Wayne Rooney rescued a point for United against Blackburn, and that was just enough to secure a historic 19th league title. Although it wasn’t a convincing performance, Sir [...]

By Matt Dodd. 1) Knocked off their perch “Au revoir Cantona and Man Utd, come back when you’ve won 18.” Well, Manchester United will be back at Anfield next season with one better than that, and I’m sure comical banners and songs for that trip to Merseyside are already being created. First-half goals from Javier [...]

By Matt Dodd. 1) Strength in depth It truly is quite something when a team is able to rest nine players for a Champions League semi-final second leg, and still stroll to an impressive victory. Virtually a second-string Manchester United side eased to a 4-1 win over Schalke, and did it in third gear at [...]

By Matt Dodd. 1) Oh Dimitar It was genuinely one of those ‘harder to miss than score’ chances. Berbatov had already missed a guilt-edged chance just 15 seconds before the horror miss. Carrick, Scholes and Park combined in a classy, one-touch, Barca-esque exchange, but the Bulgarian could do no more than hit it more-or-less straight [...]

By Matt Dodd. 1) Fergie is a team building genius Sir Alex Ferguson time and again illustrates his ability to transform average players into invaluable, exceptional team players. Almost like creating perfect robots with the precise function to do what is necessary at the right time, Sir Alex brings out the absolute best in his players [...]

By Matt Dodd. Consistency. Not a word that comes to mind when you think of the FA. On February 28th, the Football Association decided not to take action against Wayne Rooney for his elbow on Wigan’s James McCarthy. Let’s be honest, Wazza got off lightly. That said, the FA have now decided to punish Rooney [...]

By Matt Dodd. “If you’re going to win this tournament, you’ve got to be prepared to play anyone and beat them.” These the words from an invigorated Wayne Rooney in response to being asked whether he wanted to avoid Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, following Manchester United’s edgy win over Marseille. And [...]