Defiant manager looks for spirited performance that will set his team on the road to a grace-saving appearance in the finalThe good news for Manchester United supporters seeking a little uplift at the end of a depressing week is that Ole Gunnar Solskjær is looking forward to playing on the notorious Tranmere Rovers pitch. “A game on the Prenton Park surface sums up the romance of the FA Cup for me,” the United manager said. “We should be able to go to a League One side and outplay them but, if the state of the pitch makes that impossible, then we’re up for a scrap. We want to go as far as we can in this competition, I’d love to...
Fifth place feels about right for United but problems lie in the difficulty of separating sporting and commercial venturesThe protest songs began around the hour mark, shortly after Burnley had scored their second goal: swelling and swirling around the tired, peeling old ground like hymns to a hazily-remembered past. One was about wanting their United back. Another proposed chopping Ed Woodward up from head to toe: the same grisly verse that had greeted the Glazer family when they first rolled into Old Trafford in the summer of 2005. Another beseeched fans to stand up if they hated the Glazers. Thousands of fans got to their feet. To be fair, they might simply have been heading for the exits.For his part,...
United have just been well beaten by a Liverpool side 30 points ahead of them. They are sleepwalking towards mediocrityLiverpool are brilliant. They are top of the league by 16 points with a game in hand and will probably have the title wrapped up by the end of March. And yet at the same time, while acknowledging how preposterous it is to offer any criticism of a side that has taken 64 points from 22 games this season, there must be a sense that of late they’ve become a little bit sloppy.In their past two league games, against Tottenham last week and then against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, they have come extremely close to drawing games they have...
There has been little sign of improvement since Solskjær took over and he looks ill-equipped to turn things aroundO n Friday 5 March 1909, Manchester United went to Burnley for an FA Cup quarter-final. The pitch was frozen, there was heavy snow and with 18 minutes remaining the referee, Herbert Bamlett, decided the match couldn’t go on. For United, the abandonment was fortunate: they had been 1-0 down but won the rearranged game 3-2 and went on, for the first time, to lift the FA Cup.Bamlett, having refereed the 1914 FA Cup final, turned his hand to management, taking charge of Oldham, Wigan Borough and Middlesbrough, guiding the latter to the verge of promotion when, in April 1927, he was...
Batter your way through every Woodward the club can hire and you still come up against disengaged vulture capitalistsIt’s the question on every Manchester United supporter’s mind right now. Is there any sales tactic, any favour to be called in that may persuade Internazionale to sign Ed Woodward?This is perhaps a bridge too far. But as the transfer window thrums into gear it’s hard to avoid the feeling January has become the most Manchester United time of the year. Not for the actual signings, because there haven’t been many of those beyond the odd goalkeeper and the one-man reactor core meltdown that is Alexis Sánchez. Related: Manchester United ‘warrior’ Harry Maguire may be fit for Saturday Getting rid of Woodward...