Good start against Wigan

United beat Wigan 2-0 in a sold performance at Wembley today. United were not always brilliant, but played well enough, and showed signs of even better things to come. They dominated the match, without creating very many chances. Wigan played "knuckle football", and the referee let a number of late, ugly tackles pass without blowing his whistle. This made things more difficult for United, who were loth to pick up more injuries at this stage of the season. For United fans, it was great to see Van Persie find the back of the net right from the outset. In my view, Jones, Cleverley, Zaha and Welbeck also stood out for United, in addition to Van Persie, in what was a good team performance. Swansea, you're next!

Finally, the season starts!

The Charity Shield game against Wigan marks the beginning of Man United's 2013-14 season. I do nt know about you, but I am completely fed up with meaningless exhibition games in faraway places and endless media speculation about transfers. Finally, everbody will have real games to focus on.

Before the season gets underway, a final word on the Suarez saga, which gets more and more bizarre by the day:
As I have written before in this blog, even though I am a United fan, I can admit that Liverpool is a big club with proud traditions. For this reason, I have argued that Liverpool should have parted with Suarez a long time ago, given his poor behavior on and off the pitch. Somehow, Liverpool managers and fans seem to have only recently discovered what a selfish shitbag Suarez really is. And they may still forgive him, it seems, if he pledges to stay at the club. Given the history of this player, I think I speak for many fans of English football when I say: the further away from England Suarez goes, the better.

Transfer madness

The 3-month period between the end of one season and the start of the next is always hard for many fans of English football. But what makes this period extra hard to endure, is the absolute rubbish being published on a daily basis in the news media, particularly regarding possible transfers.

United fans have suffered through many long 'transfer sagas' over the years. Remember Wesley Sneijder? Say no more.

This summer, the media have fed us daily updates on Rooney, Thiago, Fabregas and Ronaldo, with no end in sight. I will therefore set the record straight.

Rooney: he is staying at United. Period. The media (and perhaps Rooney's agent) are trying to fan the flames of discontent, but it won't work. As far as I know, Rooney himself has not said anything publicly about wanting to leave the club (unlike a couple of years ago). Moyes wants to keep him, and knows what a great player Rooney is at his best. Therefore, my conclusion is that Rooney stays, at least for now.

Thiago: I don't think United ever bid for him. And frankly, I am not sure that English football would be such a good fit for him (he seems to agree, having chosen to team up with his old coach in Bayern).

Fabregas: he would be a good signing for United, but I don't see how Barcelona could sell two top midfielders in such a short time span. They don't need the money. And with a new coach, Fabregas has a new chance to carve out his place among Barca's starting 11. My conclusion: Fabregas will stay at Barca.

Ronaldo: he is the second best player is the world. There is zero chance that Real will sell him, even after dishing out an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to sign Bale. So Ronaldo will stay where he is as well.

As we football fans know too well, most of the possible transfers we read about in the media will never materialize. However, we keep buying these stories, perhaps because they allow us to dream of great success in the upcoming season. For my part, I believe United already have a strong, balanced squad, which is in a position to win trophies this coming season, even without the arrival of Fabregas.

Here is my starting line-up (4-4-2 formation), for the away game at Swansea:
De Gea
Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra
Zaha, Carrick, Kagawa, Young
Rooney, Van Persey
Subs: Lindegard, Rafael, Smalling, Cleverley, Nani, Chicharito
(sorry Ryan Giggs, but you will sit with the coaching staff)

What do you think? What does your starting line-up look like? Let me hear from you!

United should not play in blue shirts

Yes, I know that Charlton, Law, Best and the other United players wore blue shirts when they beat Benfica in the 1968 European Cup Final. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel that blue - whether dark or light blue - is the color of Man City, not United.

If anything, United's third shirt should be yellow (as it has been occasionally), not blue. Firstly, United's club logo has red and yellow in it. Newton Heath also initially played in yellow. Secondly, in the 30+ years that I have follwed the club, United seem to have played many poor games in blue. I don't have the statistics to prove it, but I am sure that, during this period, United has a lower win percentage when wearing blue shirts than when wearing other back-up colors such as white, yellow or black. As some fans will remember, for a few away matches some years ago, United tried out grey shirts, but they proved to be even worse and were discarded.

If United were to stop wearing blue shirts, black could be another alternative. Over the years, particularly when Cantona was at the club, United have played several good (away) games in black. Thus, maybe a daring combination of black and yellow should be United's third shirt?

What do you think? Please let me know your thoughts.

The firing of Mancini is madness

Manchester City's decision to fire Roberto Mancini, exactly one year after City won the League for the first time in ages, seems crazy to me.  No club can expect to win multiple trophies every year, and if City's owners think they can find a manager who can guarantee such success every year, they are badly mistaken. Not even Sir Alex could guarantee that.  Most football fans will agree that Mancini has done a fairly good job at City, with considerable resources at his disposal.  Mancini also has a record of success from Italy, and will no doubt soon land a job with another top club.  City's decision to sack Mancini reminds me of Chelsea's decision to sack Mourinho a few years back - a decision Chelsea soon came to regret.  It is also a stunning display of the unrealistic expectations of some wealthy owners in today's football.  If City and Chelsea continue like this, at least one of those two clubs will change manager each season, as there will not be enough trophies to go around to satisfy their respective owners (I, of course, hope that most of the silverware will continue to end up in Man United). 

Thank you, Sir Alex!

We knew it had to happen at some stage, but nevertheless, Sir Alex' retirement came as a bit of a shock to many United fans.  How will our club fare now, without him at the bench?  Sir Alex is among the most successful managers of all time in the world of football, and managers like him only come around once a century.  So at the outset, we know that he can't be fully replaced.  We can also safely say that Sir Alex successor will likely not be as successful as him, as this is nearly impossible.  However, the successor may still be very successful!

I believe David Moyes is the right man for the job.  If United wanted instant success, then somebody like Mourinho or Ancelotti (if they are available) would perhaps be better.  However, none of them would be likely to stay at the club for more than 3-4 years.  Moyes, on the other hand, will likely stay for 10 years or more (unless he is sacked - let's hope that does not happen!).  I believe the right question should be: which manager would bring the most titles over the next 10 years, while taking Sir Alex' philosophy in terms of youth development etc. forward?  The answer, in my opinion, is Moyes.  Let's cross our fingers for a good start to the next season.  He'll need it!

Finally, Sir Alex' retirement means that all bets are off with respect to players coming and leaving the club.  I wrote earlier in this column that Rooney would stay at the club.  However, with Sir Alex leaving and Moyes arriving, I am no longer so sure.  Further, would Giggs and Scholes play for another year with a new manager?  What about Rio Ferdinand?  And, if there is any truth to the rumors about Ronaldo, would he want to come back if Sir Alex is not there?  We'll find out over the next couple of months.

The season is over

After United secured their 20th league title against Aston Villa, their performance has dropped markedly. The home game against Chelsea (1-0 loss) looked a bit like a Charity Shield match, with players from both teams seemingly taking it easy. Yet when the fixtures for this season were first released, this game looked like one that might decide which of the two teams would win the title.  In the end, it was a rather boring game.  United deservedly lost, but nobody seemed to care. It was particularly sad to see players like Anderson and Cleverley, who really needed this game to show their potential for next season, underperform.  Who could argue that we don't need another midfielder after watching this game?  Who would have thought United would end the game with the following midfield: Rooney, Giggs, Buttner?

I am already looking forward to next season, to be honest.  The last two games, against Swansea and West Brom, are likely to also be more like pre-season friendlies, with little at stake for either team.