Deadline Day

I know I've recently blogged a number of times (1, 2, 3) about how much United has changed since Fergie left. But, I just can't help it. Yesterday was Deadline Day and it was insane. We signed Daley Blind and Radamel Falcao, after signing Angel Di Maria not a week ago. But we also lost Shinji Kagawa, Danny Welbeck, and Chicharito, who are all fan favorites. I honestly can't be too happy even with the amazing signings we got. Especially for Welbeck's departure to Arsenal. I mean...really? He's a local boy, only 23 years old, and is a great talent. I honestly thought he would stay at United until the end of his playing career.

To the right is a possible starting XI for United. It's just so unfamiliar! I mean, seven of the players weren't even here last summer. Not saying that it's not an exciting looking lineup (though I'd love a more solid defense), but it just doesn't really look like Manchester United.

Anyways... I'm still extremely upset about Welbeck, and the only thing that can cure it is United finally winning a match for a change. With a squad like this, we better be winning a lot of matches. I get that they need time to gel or whatever, but we can't play like we've played for the rest of the season. It would be great if half of our players aren't out/injured, too.

The new United?

The World Cup is over so now my attention is fully back to Manchester United. Their US pre-season tour starts with a game against LA Galaxy in a week. This will be the first sighting of the new kit, and the new manager. The new era. Most of us probably said the exact same thing last year, with the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson and the arrival of David Moyes. But it feels different this time. Even more significant, somehow. It feels like a completely new United. Although, it could feel like this just because I want to put last season behind me; forget it ever happened. Maybe I want this season to feel like a different United because I don't want last season to repeat itself. In any case, there are a lot of changes happening at the club.

Two signings within two days?

And one of them is a central midfielder too! Who are you and what have you done with the United I know and love? Well done, Ed! Not that we know anything about the behind-the-scene happenings over at United, but we gave you a lot of shit for the transfer failures last summer, so you deserve props when they're actually pulled off. Well, too, without the dragged out rumors.

Yesterday, United officially announced the signing of 24 year old Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera. Today, it was 18 year old English full back Luke Shaw's turn. You're spoiling us Ed!

Not that I want to get too excited and get my hopes up, but the banner/header +Manchester United is using definitely has space for more floating heads, right? ;)

Tearing You Apart: 1991-2014

Ryan Giggs announces his retirement on the club's website:

Today is a fantastic day for Manchester United. Louis van Gaal is a great appointment and let me begin by telling you how delighted I am to be working with someone of his calibre. His credentials are second to none and I’m positive the club will thrive under his leadership over the coming years.

I would also like to take this opportunity to announce my retirement from professional football and embark upon a new and exciting chapter in my life, as assistant manager of Manchester United. I am immensely proud, honoured and fortunate to have represented the biggest club in the world 963 times and Wales 64 times. My dream was always to play for Manchester United, and although it saddens me to know I won’t be pulling on a United jersey again as a player, I have been lucky enough to have fulfilled that dream playing with some of the best players in the world, working under an incredible manager in Sir Alex Ferguson, and most of all, playing for the greatest fans in world football. I have always felt and appreciated your support.

I want to also give a huge thanks to the backroom staff and support teams we have and have had at Manchester United over the years. I would not have achieved the success I have without your continuing dedication and commitment to creating the best environment to enable the players to thrive. I would not have won 34 trophies in my career without you. I would also like to say a special thanks to my friends and family for all your love and support.

For me, today is a new chapter filled with many emotions - immense pride, sadness, but most of all, excitement towards the future. United fans I hope will share and echo my belief that the club, the management and owners, are doing everything they can to return this great club to where it belongs, and I hope to be there every step of the way. To the greatest fans in world football, thank you, I have loved every minute of playing for you and representing the biggest and best club in the world.

See you next season,

Ryan

I... this is a bit too much. There will be no more "GIGGS 11" jersey next season. Someone else might wear that number. I know we're still going to see him often, with his being our assistant manager, but...still! Giggsy has finished his playing career, winning a major trophy every 27.5 games. That's just insane. It's quite a shame he didn't manage to score a league goal this past season. And it's even more of a shame that his last season as a player was arguably his worst. This also marks the end of the Class of 92 era.

I understand that a player testimonial is usually held to mark a 10 year service to a club, and that Giggs has had his back then. But he's been at the club for more than 20 years, so he deserves a second testimonial right? Just let me watch him play one more time. I really am sad that I never got to watch him play live at Old Trafford.

Thank you for all the years, Giggsy. Hope for plenty more to come with you as assistant manager and then manager. Truly is Mr. Man United.

Finally

After weeks of rumors and speculations, and after a few postponements, Manchester United announced Louis van Gaal as the next manager, to take charge of the club after the World Cup. Ryan Giggs is set to be his assistant manager. Here's an excerpt of the statement from the club's website:

Louis van Gaal will take over as manager of Manchester United from the 2014/15 season. He has signed a three-year contract.

Louis, 62, has managed at the top level of European football for over 20 years and in that time has won domestic titles and domestic cups in three countries, as well as the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup, an Intercontinental Cup, two UEFA Super Cups and domestic Super Cups in Holland and Germany.

He will take up his post after the FIFA World Cup, where he will manage the Dutch national team.

Ryan Giggs, English football's most decorated footballer and the United player with the most appearances in the club's history, has been appointed as assistant manager. Ryan took charge of the first team for the last four matches of the 2013/14 season.

Welcome, Louis. Let's get this club back to where it belongs. I really am glad that Ryan Giggs is staying at the club. I don't know if I could handle seeing Giggsy in a different club's suit or kit.

That was surreal

This week, Giggsy's been saying that he wants the player to enjoy playing again, and to put smiles in our faces. Well, he's done that today. I was a little disappointed with the team selection, to be honest, but he went with experience and I can understand that. The first half wasn't the best, but we looked like Manchester United of old in the second half. Created plenty of chances and took a few of them. 2 goals from Rooney and 2 goals for Mata for a comfortable win at Old Trafford. Hernandez should have scored at the end of the game; great through ball by Mata, but Chicha put his shot wide.

Thanks, Giggsy. I know it's just Norwich but it was great to watch.

Thanks for the effort, Moyesy!

He only lasted 9 months. It's quite unfortunate, really, but the loss at Everton means we're mathematically out of the top 4, and rumor has it that means United doesn't have to pay the full contract amount to Moyes, just the 1 year. Sunday's match, like the draw against Fulham, really left me feeling numb and lost. It was just a terrible performance. Sure, some of the blame should fall on Moyes, but I was very disappointed in the players too. As much as I love Mata and the fact that he's a United player, his performance on Sunday showed that the players have stopped trying. It could be that they decided they didn't want Moyes as manager anymore so they played poorly to get him sacked, but whatever it was, it was unprofessional and disheartening. I thought, after the fight against Bayern, that this would be it. We would be fighting til the end and give us hope for next season. But nope, they didn't even show up against Everton.

The best part about Mondays is Juan Mata's blog posts (and hugs)

Especially after a good game. I've just read the latest post, "May the streak goes on." Mata was in top form against Newcastle over the weekend, scored two goals and provided a beautiful back-heeled assist for Januzaj's goal.

In celebration of his first goal –– a wonderfully placed freekick –– Mata ran over to the bench and hugged De Gea. At first, I thought, well they're both Spanish so it's nice to see that they're friends here at the club. Then, at the post-match interview, he revealed that it was because De Gea had said that Mata would score during the match. In his blog post, he added a tiny bit more detail:

By the way, you may wonder about my celebration with De Gea... The reason is that we had been practising free-kicks the day before and David said I was going to score against Newcastle... because that day I was misfiring all my shots! And so it happened :-)

This guy is just so likable! HUGS!!

Wazza!

It wasn't that great a game. Those are few and far between these days (have we even had a great game this season?) But this goal, we might be seeing it for some time. Seven minutes into the match, Rooney did this:

Official: Vidic to Inter

Manchester United captain Nemanja #Vidic to play for Inter next season http://t.co/O651sH2iwt #FCIM pic.twitter.com/CldKf4TkdS
— F.C. Internazionale (@inter) March 5, 2014

Vidic still has a few months as United captain. I understand that it is the right time for him to move on, but he will be dearly missed.

Manchester United 2-2 Fulham: This really hurts

United just drew to bottom-of-the-table Fulham 2-2 at Old Trafford, after going a goal down for the longest time, turned it around after a 2 minute double, then conceding late into the 5 minute added time. If anyone can find me pictures of Mata and De Gea looking beaten at the end... I just... can't. Seriously, that was depressing.

Fair play to Meulensteen, he got his tactics right. Park the bus and counter. They have 6-8 players in the box most of the time. All 10 outfields stay inside their own half, except for the counter attacks. So, United got about 75-80% possession all night, passing it around trying to find a way through, and just got blocked. What ended up happening was crossing. United, couldn't get through the middle, passed the ball out wide and cross. But with 8 Fulham players in the box, and only 2-3 United players, pretty much all of those crosses were headed out by Fulham. It was insanely frustrating to watch.

The second half started, and it was the same. However, United seemed to be able to find more openings, and getting to the end of more of the crosses (still few though compared to how many crosses they put in). Even then, I was pretty much preparing myself for losing 1-0. But the goals happened (RVP from Mata assist, and a deflected goal from Carrick). There were 10 minutes to go, and I feared that United would take their feet off the pedal and start to back off. They kinda did, although they still tried to pass the ball around and attack.

But the inevitable –– seemingly inevitable this season –– happened. We conceded late in the game. I mean, what the hell? It was, again, a mistake in defense. In the first goal, Vidic decided to move towards Smalling and left a huge gap between them and Evra. Rooney, Mata, and Fletcher were ball watching and didn't notice Sidwell making the forward run. The second goal... it was a mess. I really don't want to be blaming Vidic –– his last season and all –– but I do think he's at least partially at fault on both goals.

You know what, I'm gonna try to stop thinking about the match and stop picturing that image of Mata looking really down at the end of the game... Oh, Mata, 3 assists in 3 games. Hopefully we'll get better.

I couldn't help myself

Of course I bought Mata for my FM 14 game!

I'm back!

Warning: long rambling post. These past few days have been quite interesting, to say the least.

Welcome, Juan Mata!

I was gonna post this as a tiny part of this one long blog post I'm writing, but I'm too excited to wait any longer.

After the heartbreak of summer's transfer window, I was apprehensive of all transfer rumors this time around. Especially when it's a name as big as Juan Mata. But then the rumors started to sound more believable and I just couldn't help myself but to hope. And, during a press conference, Mourinho came out and said that he had let Mata to take his medical with United. By last Thursday, reports seemed to indicate that Mata would be at Carrington on Friday for his medical, and to be revealed by Moyes on Monday's press conference.

Friday came and I kept refreshing my Twitter feed. Unfortunately, the news that I found was discouraging; the medical was delayed. I didn't find any reasons why it was delayed, so it did worry be a bit. But, I woke up Saturday morning to find pictures of him arriving at Carrington, looking dapper as hell. A part of me couldn't believe it. Chelsea's best player for the past 2 years is a Manchester United player!

A video of his arrival was posted on United's website; I love that fellow countryman David De Gea greeted Mata. Mata has revealed that De Gea's presence did help him make his decision to come to United. During his first interview as a United player, with MUTV, Mata said that he had been texting with De Gea, who was asking him, "When are you coming? When are you landing? Are you coming by helicopter or by bicycle?" Yes, I'm waiting for the bromance to bloom.

Welcome to my brother @juanmata10 just one thing....Not the best clothes!!😜😜🙈🙈 pic.twitter.com/Hn85wd9Nsv
— David De Gea (@D_DeGea) January 25, 2014

I still can't wrap my mind around how big this transfer is. It was so unexpected that I wasn't ready to deal with the news. Not only did we get an amazing player, he's conducted himself brilliantly this past week. Mata really does seem like one of the good guys in football. He seems quite intelligent and well spoken from his interview and press conference. He's been saying all the right things, and seeing his official Twitter account, Facebook page, and website, makes me believe that it's really who he is. His heartfelt letter to Chelsea was wonderful; and his first blog post as a United player was quite delightful. I like this part:

As you can imagine I haven’t had time to spare. After flying from London by helicopter and having a fantastic reception I spent the day completing my medical and, later, I signed the contract. On Sunday I met my new team mates and I had my first training session with them. By the way, the facilities at the Carrington training ground are top level. Spectacular!

He just seems like a pleasant man, and the fact that he's quite handsome doesn't hurt. I'm actually finding it difficult to not fall in love with this guy. Like a couple summers ago, I say that I wouldn't impulse buy a new player's jersey, but I did end up with an RVP jersey. We'll see how long I can stop myself from buying Mata's red #8.

I'm now very excited for tonight's game against Cardiff; not only is it Ole's return to Old Trafford, we might get to see our new man in United's jersey for the first time. Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney have also trained so they might be back in the team.

Welcome, Juan Mata! Hopefully your arrival sparks United's creativity a bit and help us have a better second half of the season.

My 2013

A few days late, but I'm finally writing my "what happened last year" post. I think my 2013 had been pretty eventful. I am going back to last year's blog posts, and other social media posts, to help me remember this past year. (As I'm writing this, I realize that this is going to be one very long post).

Happy birthday Giggsy!

My favorite United player turned 40 today, and still going strong on the pitch. He gave a solid, full 90 minute performance in midweek against Bayer Leverkusen, with an assist for Nani's goal at the end of the game. I wish you a very happy year, and hopefully a few more years in that United #11 jersey.

I would love to see Mark Webber at Old Trafford

Carrick had just extended his contract to 2015, which goes against United's (or it could have been Fergie's) policy of 1 year extensions for players over 30. Webber is about to race his final Formula 1 grand prix this Sunday, at the Interlagos circuit. It's quite exciting, since this is looking to be the first and only wet grand prix of the season. The only thing is, the United game at Cardiff City is on at the same time as the race! I can watch one on my iPad and the other on my iMac, but it would have been much better if they were one after the other.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing Mark Webber at Old Trafford in the near future, especially since I won't be seeing much of him out of F1.

Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

I pre-ordered a hard copy from Amazon, but it wouldn't be delivered until sometime in December. So, I was excited when my dad told me he got the eBook version that he could email me. I mean, I've paid for a copy; I just want it sooner.

Anyways, I started reading it on Sunday, and the first chapter is him recalling the events surrounding his retirement. It gave me chills reading that; thinking back to his retirement announcement, to his last game in May, almost made me cry. I love the bit about Ryan Giggs teasing that David Moyes had resigned after watching Sir Alex's last game in charge of United, in which a 5-2 lead was turned around to a 5-5 draw by West Ham.

I have yet to continue reading the book, and I am very excited about this. I find it strange that some people think that his book is unnecessarily offensive, when he's just being honest in his opinions. Isn't that what an autobiography is for? I wouldn't be interested if it was just another heavily edited, politically correct book. This is what makes Sir Alex interesting. So he doesn't rate some players as highly as most people; why is that wrong? And why is it wrong for him to express his opinion in his book? Whatever -- I'm just happy I have an interesting journey ahead of me.

Ferguson's Formula

The Harvard Business Review did a study on Sir Alex Ferguson and how he maintained his success at the very top level. The case study was developed by professor Anita Elberse in 2012, and she recently had Sir Alex comment on her observations. It's a very nice read, definitely worth the time.

Under the cut, a nice summary by /u/weddywhat posted to the /r/soccer thread.

Swansea 1-4 Manchester United

A good, solid win for David Moyes' first Premier League game in charge of Manchester United. To be fair, Swansea played much better than the final scoreline indicates, but it shows why United are the reigning champions. Swansea had more possession and pretty much controlled the game for the first half hour, but United took their few chances and were solid throughout the match. Well done, Moyes! A tough few games ahead of us but I'm very excited!