Post by Scott on Jun 1, 2008 2:41:37 GMT
Vidic>Superman – takes a look at our game of the season, reminding us that we should always keep the faith in our lads
When I first became a supporter of this club we weren’t having the best time of things. We were dropping points against teams like Blackburn, Fulham and Leeds. I’d always read about always having faith with United but to an extent I couldn’t work out why, we never seemed to have faith in ourselves so how could I be expected to? I often cite my United beginnings as the reason why I’m nervous before every game we play, always nervous we’ll drop points against the smaller teams we should be beating or always nervous we’ll not get a good enough result to progress.
The team we are now is very different to the team we were back then but that nervousness before each game has remained throughout my time as a supporter despite the success of the last two seasons.
That Wednesday night, we’d all been through so much before the lottery of the penalty shootout, which is loved by the supporters of the winning team, loathed by the supporters of the losing team.
We had created chance after chance in the first half but had only taken one of them. We had dominated the first 45 minutes but Chelsea levelled the score before half time with a goal from Frank Lampard. Another 45 minutes later and the score was still level, extra time was required. The first period saw Lampard hit the crossbar, I was beginning to lose hope. It was all Chelsea. Then a chance for United, Giggs’ effort was cleared off the line by eventual United hero John Terry.
Half time in extra time, still 1-1. The second period of extra time was just as eventful. The hopefully departing Didier Drogba was then sent off for a childish slap at Vidic. Chelsea were down to ten men with the shootout looming large. United couldn’t break down the ten men to snatch a last gasp winner to prevent penalties. Hope was still high though, with memories of last summer’s penalty shoot out against Chelsea in the Community Shield, where United won convincingly. The full time whistle was blown, it was still head in the hands time for many including myself.
The first four penalties were all scored with little nerves being shown from the players. Up stepped 42 goal Cristiano Ronaldo, a certainty to score you’d think. His poor penalty was easily saved by Cech, advantage Chelsea. Lampard scored his penalty, as did Owen Hargreaves. Cashley Cole was to take Chelsea’s fourth, he put it to the left of the keeper. VDS got a touch on the penalty but couldn’t prevent it going in. I’d all but given up hope at this point. Nani scored to make it 4-4. John Terry took the responsibility of the fifth penalty for Chelsea. I couldn’t watch, it had all become too much for me. My face pressed into the sofa cushion. “Oh, he’s missed it, he’s missed it!” was the cry from the TV. 4-4 it stayed. The next three takers were Anderson, Kalou & Ryan Giggs. All successful.
Then came Anelka, formerly of Citeh, ‘pool and L’Arse. Van der Sar pointed to the left, using his experience to try to unsettle his opponent. It worked. Anelka put his penalty to the right of Van Der Sar. In a moment that seemed like it was in slow motion as VDS flung himself to the right and palmed away Anelka’s penalty. Champions of Europe once again!
That night taught me a very important lesson: when United are involved, however dire the situation looks, there is always hope, for we are United and we don’t surrender. We fight until the death and don’t rest until we conquer all before us.
Raisnhell – gives his review of the season as a whole
On Sunday, August 5th, 2007, Manchester United kicked off its 129th over-all, and its 33rd consecutive top-division season when it played Chelsea FC for the Charity Shield. The game was held at Wembley in front of an audience of some 80,000. The game drew levelled at 1 goal for each side, with Ryan Giggs scoring United’s first goal for the season. The game went into penalty kicks to decide the winner, and Edwin van der Sar emerged the hero, saving all attempts by Chelsea players to sink the ball into United’s net. Manchester United on the FA Charity Shield 3-0 on penalty kicks. At that time, who was to know that the season’s rivalry between the two clubs end in a similar fashion at the end of the season. The drama that unfolded in the next 10 months could not be envisaged by any Hollywood writer.
On Saturday, August 11th, 2007, the Barclays Premier League started its 16th season. Manchester United played their first game of the league’s 2007-08 season hosting Reading FC at the Old Trafford. The game saw United kick-off, arguably, its “worst season start” under Sir Alex Ferguson. In the beginning weeks of the season United were without Wayne Rooney, due to a foot injury which he picked up against Reading and Ronaldo who got a 3-match ban for apparently headbutting Portsmouth's Richard Hughes. After drawing against Reading, United drew against Portsmouth and lost to their arch rivals Manchester City. Manchester United were in the bottom half of the league, in the 17th position. It was the first time they were in the relegation zone after 3 games since 1992. Worst start ever under Sir Alex? Yes.
And then began the strenuous journey back into the fight to defend our Trophy from the hands of the Londoners and the Scousers. United hosted Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford, and United’s new wonder boy Nani scored the game’s only goal, and his first for United, in the middle of the second half to lead us back into the fight. Watch it. The euphoric strike seemed to put enough juice into the United squad that it went on to win its next four games. Included in the month’s games was the battle against Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, Chelsea’s then manager, left the club guessing just two days before the game, forcing Avram Grant into the manager’s job. A helpless Chelsea lost 2-0 to United with goals from Louis Saha and the new signing Carlos Tevez, who scored his first goal for United. After 8 games, United has just conceded 2 goals, 3 less than at the same juncture the previous season.
However, what happened next was the killing of a giant. Conventry City defeated United 2-0 in the Carling Cup. Somehow it came as no surprise to us as we fielded a very young and weak side against a highly motivated team. It was the only game United played in the cup. The average age in the United team was 21, and Sir Alex was accused, as always, for belittling the cup and not giving the respect that it deserved. Sir Alex, United, and its supporters, just brushed the accusations aside.
The month of September saw united climb from the 10th position in the league to the 2nd, re-igniting the fight with Arsenal for the top seat in the league. Sir Alex iterated his pleasure at the renewed battle between himself and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
The next month saw United go on a goal hungry rout that probably announced to the world, “we are still here, don’t count us out...bitches!” Having defeated Roma 1-0 at Old Trafford in the Champions’ League group stages, United took their next four games to another level. Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa, Dynamo Kiev, and Middlesbrough all suffered the brunt of 4 screaming goals scored against each of them by United. It was official, United were not backing down.
Then came November, Arsenal game being the first of the month, and till the end it seemed like we’ll win it and get on the top of the league for atleast till the new year. Rooney scored off a deflection off Gallas in the 45 minute, and Ronaldo scores United’s second after Fabregas leveled the score early in the second half. But Gallas reprieved himself for Arsenal to draw the game at 2-2 in the dying minutes. November saw us loose to Bolton 1-0 and end our 10-game unbeaten streak. We slid into the 3rd position for a week behind Chelsea who were slowly creeping up to spoil the party at the top.
Then United came back in December, winning the next 5 games including the pleasing 1-0 win through Tevez against the scousers at Anfield. Ronaldo saw himself scoring 2 goals in as many minutes against Everton. Saha scored his double on Boxing Day against Sunderland, the new club for United legend Roy Keane. Keano’s entry into the Stadium of Light stands got him a standing ovation and a huge welcome from the United away support, and a special 4-0 loss from his ex-boss Sir Alex. In the meantime United had cruised through the group stages in the UEFA Champions League with a 4-0 win over Kiev, 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon and a 1-1 away draw against Roma.
And then came the last game of the year 2007. December 29th, 3 days after the 4-0 rout at Sunderland. United played West Ham at Upton Park, and seemed like they will win after Ronaldo scored the first goal with a header. It was his chance to seal the win via a penalty, but he shot it wide, which Hammers took full advantage of and came back to defeat United 2-1. The defeat ended United’s year with a 2nd place in the league and only 18 games to go. Arsenal 1st, and Chelsea close behind United.
The first game of the year 2008 was against Birmingham City and United won the hard fought battle 1-0 with an early goal from Tevez. Sir Alex came under fire when he voiced his dismay at the atmosphere at Old Trafford saying that he felt the atmosphere at the stadium was like a funeral. Those he praised the away support the next game at Aston Villa on January 5th, it didn’t help him much. The January 5th game was United’s first game in its short lived FA Cup season, which had United beat Aston Villa 2-0. Newcastle was now the new club of United fan-favorite Alan Smith. The lad had bled in the United shirt and was a star in Roma’s butchery at United’s hands last season in the Champion’s League. Newcastle strolled on the Old Trafford pitch without a manager. Arsenal had just drew at Birmingham City 1-1. The top position was up for grabs. If United beat the Magpies they would be on the top of the league. BOOM! The game begins and United announce they mean business. United are victorious 6-0!! Ronaldo was the hero of the day with his first hat-trick. Carlos Tevez got his first double and came close to getting his hat-trick. Ferdinand also got a goal in the late minutes of the game. Alan Smith was Newcastle’s captain that day, and protested furiously after the 6th goal, and was red carded by the ref.
Wayne Rooney came back on the score sheets with United’s 2-0 win over Reading and United continued their good form beating Spurs 3-1 in the FA Cup, and into the league’s return leg beating Pompey 2-0. We were now on top of the league.
February had us at the edge of the seat as we drew away 1-1 at Spurs and slipped down back into the second position behind Arsenal. Chelsea, in the meantime, were churning out 1-0 results and cruising in the 3rd position, with Grant at the helm. His pathetic attempt at mind games became a spectacle for United fans all over and a media joke as many started comparing him to a toad. Chelsea seemed like a broken club following claims by Didier Drogba about unsettling feelings he got there. However, Chelsea were still getting the wins and seemed as if they will ending the season in the third place as United and Arsenal were still winning in style.
February 6th was the 50th year to the day when United’s plane crashed in Munich killing 8 of its players and seriously injuring its legendary manager Sir Matt Busby. The emotional day was soon followed by a derby game against Manchester City, to which Sir Alex had earlier protested. The game was highly publicized by the media and the high emotions caused an under performance by United and their eventual loss to City 2-0. It was highly speculated that City fans will spoil the minute’s silence to be observed by the club. City’s manager, Sven, had to send letters to all City fans’ homes to urge them to pay respect to those who died that day. It was argued that instead of the silence, the fans should applaud the contribution and life of the Munich tragedy’s victims. The silence was observed however and the fans kept their promise. The next day, Arsenal beat Blackburn 2–0 to open up a five-point lead at the top of the table. But United came back with a resounding 5-1 victory over Newcastle, with both Rooney and Ronaldo getting a double, and Saha also getting on the score sheets. And United closed the gap back to the 3 points. United traveled to Lyon in the Champion’s League and got their away goal in the 1-1 game.
March had United playing Fulham at Craven Cottage and United won 3-0, followed by a 1-0 home win over Lyon taking them into the quarter-finals in Europe. However United suffered a setback in their campaign as the Treble Talks started showing their heads again. The media speculated that this could be another Treble winning year, just like all the others before this one. But all talks were squashed as United lost to 1-0 Portsmouth in the FA Cup, after Thomaz Kuszczak was sent off for a bad tackle. Ferdinand had to step-in to take control of United’s posts, but he failed to save the penalty, and United were out of the FA Cup. United then traveled to Derby to reassert their dominance, but had to fight really hard to earn it through Ronaldo’s late 76th minute goal. United’s number 1 and number 2 goal keepers were both unavailable and Ben Foster had to take the charge of the goal. He proved his worth with some brilliant saves and kept United afloat. Arsenal on the other side had drawn against a ten men Middlesbrough.
United were on top of the league, with a superior goal difference and a game in hand. With the Derby game now behind them United looked forward and beat Bolton 2-0.
March 23rd was dubbed by the ever greedy media as “Grand Slam Sunday”. United played hosts to Liverpool early in the day and Chelsea had Arsenal later. United went in knowing that a win will put a lot of pressure on both the London teams. United played unimpressively in the first 10 minutes as Liverpool tried to push United back, but that was until Mascherano challenged Paul Scholes and was given a warning by the ref. United let loose after that and scored their first through a beautiful header off Rooney’s cross by local lad Wes Brown. United fans erupted in the stands. Half time approached and Scholes makes an awful tackle. Liverpool get a free kick, and Scholes escapes a yellow. Torres finds this unacceptable and protests to the refree who immediately shows him the yellow. Mascherano got furious over this and started arguing with the ref. What followed was a drama worth laughs as Mascherano is sent off for dissent and the scousers are reduced to 10 men. United bang in some more goals and (again) win over the scousers 3-0. Ronaldo and Nani both score their first against them, with Nani being the central man in both goals. Arsenal and Chelsea play right after the Untied game, and end the game 2-1 with a brace from Drogba after an early lead by Arsenal.
The race to the top of the league is now opened up. United are on the top with 5 points ahead of Chelsea followed by Arsenal. The pundits are now eating their words after the ruled out Chelsea and declared Arsenal the eventual winners. United silence them further with a 4-0 win over Villa the following game.
The April Fools Day heard many fools asking United to show another 7-1 win over Roma that day in the Champions League, but as is the world of football, United shun Roma 2-0 away and 1-0 the next week at Old Trafford to advance into the semi-finals. In between, however, United dropped points 2-2 to Middlesbrough who were becoming a pain for the top sides.
United played Arsenal next and w in here would throw the gunners out of the race. The first half finished without goals but in the second half, Adebayor handed the ball into the United goal and drew the first blood. The referee did not see anything from his position and the goal was allowed to stand. United then answered back with a penalty taken by Ronaldo. Gallas was again their culprit as he handled the ball in the Arsenal box. Then 20 minutes to go Evra is brought down 25 yards from the goal. Ronaldo and Hargreaves key up to take the kick, and everyone expects Ronaldo to take the kick. But Hargreaves steps up not paying heed to Ronaldo and WHAM! GOAL!!! A brilliant kick by the English all-rounder end in the back of the Arsenal net and United are on the top! United hold on to the lead and win the game, throwing the Gunners out of the race.
Chelsea have a chance to close the lead that United hold to 3 points, but fail as they draw 1-1 to Wigan.
United are now in the middle of April with 4 games remaining in the league and 5 points adrift Chelsea. United have to face Blackburn Rovers at their home, Chelsea at the Bridge, West Ham home and Wigam away. In between they play the Champions League semi-finals against a strong Barcelona. The drama, ladies and gentlemen, comes to sweating palms, nail biting and jittery fingers.
April 19th, United take on Blackburn, and after a grueling game, they draw 1-1 with a very late heart stopping header from Tevez to save United its face. Chelsea in the meantime have won over Everton and the lead is down to three points as Chelsea win over Everton.
April 23rd, United travel to Barcelona in the Champions League, and draw 0-0 after Ronaldo misses a penalty. The demonic pundits are now saying United’s CL campaign is over. United are under pressure to crack.
April 26th, United travel to Chelsea for the Premier League. United have a relatively weaken side but hold on for the first 45 minutes after which Ballack opens the score sheets with a header into the nets. United then answer back with a goal from Wayne Rooney, his first ever against the Blues. However, in the dying minutes Carrick handles the ball in the penalty area and is controversially given a hand ball. Chelsea score and win, and United are now leveled with Chelsea on points and only lead the table with a far superior goal difference. Chelsea’s manager, the Toad-master Grant, says goal difference should not matter and the teams should have to go through the replays to decide the winners. People all over laugh.
April 29th, following their disheartening defeat at Chelsea, United now face Barcelona at home. United are written off following their dismal Aprils’ campaign. But the Reds show their mantel as they weather the storm until Paul Scholes does what he does best, his million dollar screecher that finds the back of the Barcelona net! UNITED WIN 1-0!! Brilliant! United are in the final of the Champions League and their 9 year wait is over! United were in the final last time in 1999 when they won their famous treble. And now they are back in it. And the man to do it is the one who missed it 9 years ago. Paul Scholes. BRILLIANT!! United now seem to be happy and confident. Eyes now turn to the Premier League.
May 3rd, United host West Ham, the side that defeated them in the last game of 2007 and denied them the top of the berth in the league. United have to win this game and the next one against Wigan to win the league. It’s down to the wire. United play a weakened squad as Rooney, Vidic and Anderson are missing in the lineup. Game begins, and United start with a bang. It’s the 3rd minute and Ronaldo bursts into the scene with a fantastic goal! United are 1-0 up. 20 minutes pass, no change, and suddenly its Ronaldo again, and United are 2-0 up. Within the next few minutes Tevez scores a scorching 25 yard goal to put United up 3-0. Just before half time however, Hammers find the net with a bicycle kick from Ashton. The score is 3-1 United. Nani then ends up in an altercation with Neill and finds himself with a red card. United are now one man down and fans are busting on Nani for being immature in the fight. However, United don’t loose faith and not only do they deny the Hammers the 1-man advantage, but also score via a deflecting shot by Michael Carrick from 30 yards. United win 4-1 over Hammers and the last day of the league now is the title decider.
United are still level with Chelsea only leading them on goal difference as Chelsea won over Newcastle 2-0 the following Monday. United need to equal or better Chelsea’s result against Bolton to win the league.
May 11th, 2008. Last day of the Barclays Premier League. United play Wigan, managed by Steve Bruce, United’s old captain, and one who promised to give United a run for their money. Chelsea and most of the media start speculating on Brucey’s intentions and honesty. He is an old United player and legend, will he allow United to win? It forces Brucey to come out in the public and reassure that none of that will happen. In the meantime Chelsea are to face Bolton who have just been cleared off the relegation zone and are seen partying out in the public. United call the media to also scrutinize their intentions seeing they were not serious about their game against Chelsea.
Well, the day arrives and United take stage. The game begins and it looks like we will have to work extra hard to win. United come on top in the 33rd minute with Ronaldo’s penalty, and United are 1-0 up. Elsewhere, Chelsea are still 0-0 with Bolton, until the 62nd minute when Chelsea score and it seemed like we will win the league on goal difference alone. Wigan are still not done and pressure us further. But we hold on and Ryan Giggs, the man who opened United’s season with his goal against Chelsea in the Charity Shield, scores a brilliant goal in the Wigan box in the 80th minute and makes it 2-0. United are definitely going to win the league now. But the fun did not then there. Bolton scored the leveling goal against Chelsea in the 90th minute to deny Chelsea 3 points, and United win on points alone, and also a far superior goal difference.
AND UNITED WIN THE LEAGUE! Sir Alex and Ryan Giggs win their 10th League title, shattering the record books, and taking their place in United’s history.
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Next up the Champions League!
May 21st, 2008. Venue: Moscow. Teams: Manchester United FC vs. Chelsea FC
United start the play fast and score in the middle of the second half with Ronaldo’s brilliant header in the 26th minute. United seemed to dominate the first half and should have been 3-0 up had it not been for the slippery ground. The ground gave us the beat again as United’s star goal keeper Van der Saar slipped while coming out of the box to save the ball that double deflected off the United defenders and landed in front of Lampard. Chelsea equalized the game 1-1 just before the whistle blew at half time. What followed next was a script out of a movie. Missed chances all over, fights erupting, and frayed nerves on both sides. In the Mid-way through the second half of extra time, a large incident involving Carlos Tevez and John Terry kicked off. In the ensuing melée, the referee spotted a slap on Vidic by Drogba, and had no hesitation in sending the Ivorian international off. John Terry also seemed to spit on Tevez and is now under investigation by the authorities. Despite the one man advantage, United were unable to find a winner and the match went to penalties.
United were the first to the penalty box – Tevez. GOAL! 1-0 Chelsea next – Ballack. Goal! 1-1 United again – Michael Carrick. Goal! 2-1 Chelsea – Belleti. Goal! 2-2 United up again – Ronaldo. Miss! Keeper saves it! 2-2 Chelsea – Lampard. Goal! 2-3 (United seem to be on the verge of loosing it) United – Hargreaves. Goal!! 3-3 Chelsea – Cole. Goal!! 3-4 United – Nani. Goal! Brilliant one too! 4-4 Chelsea – John Terry. MISS!! The Chelsea captain slips and missed the goal! 4-4!!! United – Anderson. Nerves are frayed. GOAL!!!!!! 5-4!! Chelsea – Kalou. Can he make it or miss? Goal! 5-5!!
Now it’s on to sudden death
United – Ryan Giggs steps up to take the penalty. It must go in, or else. GOALL!!!!!! 6-5!! Chelsea – Anelka. The man who’s goal defeated us earlier in the season comes up. Van der Saar must save it. MISS!! VAN DER SAAR MAKES THE SAVE OF HIS LIFE TO DENY THE CHELSEA MAN AND UNITED WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ON PENALTIES!!!!! HISTORY!!!!
Click to watch the penalties and celebrations. Other videos
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That ladies and gents was United’s 2007-08 season, in a nut shell. What has been left out of the interest of Real Madrid in Ronaldo, and media contouring attempts to say that Ronaldo is not happy at United; Grants’ dumb attempts to play mid games; Mourinho’s absence to provide us the delusions and comedy. Sunderland’s first season in the top flight under our legend that is Roy Keane and the ridiculous amount of ex-United players at Sunderland; and ofcourse, the fact that Ronaldo broke Georgie Best’s record of most goals scored, and winning the six individual awards, including the Premier League Golden Boot for 31 goals in the league. His total tally? 42 goals!
An honorary mention to those who lost their lives at Munich, 50 years ago. We shall miss you. United renamed their tunnel on February 6th to Munich Tunnel
MUFCjoe - offers his summary of the season
AUGUST
Bar the penalty win over Chelsea to win the Charity Shield, this season didn't start quite as planned. Last season 5-1 slaughtering of Fulham wasn't repeated vs Reading and despite playing them off the park, we couldn't make the breakthrough. 0-0 it finished. I personally never got to see the Portsmouth game as I was on holiday, but we still didn't manage to grab our first win of the season and a 1-1 draw was all we could muster. Then came City at Wastelands. Surely the perfect time to get our first win, no? We murdered them, outplayed them throughout but a deflected goal was our downfall, not even managing a draw. 1-0 City won. 2 points from 9. Not title-winning form. Late into the game vs Tottenham we needed a goal, and Nani, the young signing from Sporting Lisbon, provided scoring a trademark scorcher, and our season was kickstarted.
SEPTEMBER
Wins against teams like Sunderland and Everton followed. The Champions League then begun, and so did That Boy Ronaldo's incredible goalscoring haul. The only goal of the game against Ronnie's old club begun what we hoped would be a great champions league campaign.
What made this win even better was Chelsea sacking manager Jose Mourinho, and bringing in Avram Grant. Guess who was next up for the Reds? A 2-0 loss in his first game, inflicted by a fantastic United performance. First time for the season we'd scored over 1 goal, and certainly wasn't to be the last. We were knocked out of the Carling Cup, by COventry, but continued our run of 1-0 wins vs Birmingham.
OCTOBER
Soon the season really began with Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo, 'The Holy Trinity', kicked off, with United scoring 4 goals, 4 games running!
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER
Then Arsenal grabbed a lucky last minute equaliser at home and celebrated like they'd won the league after Gallas scored. But we got back to winning ways soon enough, winning 8 of our next 10 games.
JANUARY
January came, and United needed to get back their true classy form, and it came back, just in time with Rooneys return, in our second game of the month - Villa in the Cup - 0-0 unitl on came Rooney for a late goal and assist. His return pushed us to greater glory vs Newcastle in our biggest win of the season. And incredible first half performance, made even more incredible by nobody scoring!!! But the second half brought the goals - 6 to be exact. Ronaldo's first hat-trick for the club. The announcer must have begun to get tired of shouting out his name and number and listening to 'That Boy Ronaldo makes England look shite'. January had been a fantastic month, and had to be rounded off in style. Ronaldo obviously agreed, scoring twice vs Portsmouth, the second described as the "Best freekick the PRemierships ever seen" by Sir ALex Ferguson.
FEBRUARY
February was a mixed month, incredible highs - 5-1 win over Newcastle (KEEGAN IS BACK ; KEEGAN FOR ENGLAND) and a 4-0 FA Cup win over Arsenal ; the beginning of their downfall ; Nanis seal dribble. This month begun with a 1-1 draw away to Tottenham, Tevez' late equaliser (not his only valuable goal) grabbing a valuable point, but the next game was incredibly low. 6th February 1958, 3.04 p.m, Munich, 23 died, 8 United players, The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester. The minutes silence was impeccable, buit the United performance was poor, losing a second time to City, this time 2-1.
MARCH
Now at the business end to the season we needed a good March, and bar our FA Cup exit to Portsmouth, the eventual winners, we got a good March. And with it came a few new songs, Andersonsonson and Viva Ronaldo. We needed a new Ronaldo song the amount he was scoring. Especially for when he overtook George Bests longstanding record against Bolton. After that, he wouldnt rest on his laurels, scoring the second in a fantastic 3-0 win over Liverpool and scoring one of the goals of the season, a classy flick, against Villa. Add this goal to his 3 assists and you have THE best player in the world at his best.
APRIL
8 fixtures in April. 4 Champions League, 4 in the Premiership. In this month we progressed to the Champions League Semis with 2 wins over Roma (6th game vs them in 2 years!), and from there we progressed to the final, only the third in the clubs history. We never played our natural game against Barcelona, but no compalints at keeping Messi, Eto'o, Henry and the like quiet with 2 clean sheets. Who better to score the tie-winning goal than Paul Scholes with an incredible thunderbolt into the top corner on 14 minutes! The atmosphere was excellent, best home atmosphere of the season in my opinion and many others. We'll win it 3 times. But the league was much scarier as, for me, it was the trophy I craved most. A draw against Middlesborough put us in doubt, but a win over Arsenal left us 5 points clear at the top. Just 4 games to go, we had to do it from here! Blackburn, however, proved trickier than expected, and we were lsoing 1-0 until 87 minutes. A 2 point gap wasn't enough with Chelsea up next at Stamford Bridge! Then, again, we did it, and Tevez was the man. Hence utter carnage in the away end, we now had a 3 point gap, with our massively superior goaldifference, meaning we could lose at Stamford Bridge and still have it in our hands. We did lose at Stamford Bridge through a late Ballack penalty. Hence pure doom. But it was still in our hands. Wins against West Ham and Wigan and we were champions.
MAY
May. The moth of finals. Every game was massive. First up, West Ham. The nerves before the game were incredible. Any slip ups (no pun intended John Terry) and the league was thrown away. But those nerves were settled 2 minutes in when, guess who, Ronaldo scored again. His 39th goal of the season was not all, though and he soon scored again, 40 goals, 30 league goals, and he's a winger. Simply incredible. Then the best goal of the game from Tevez, a thunderbolt and it was sealed. 4-1 the game finished. 2 games, 2 trophies. Wigan, Chelsea. Wigan first, and a Ronaldo penalty (31 league goals to equal Shearer) set us off. We were still in doubt though until Giggs, on the day he equalled Bobby Charltons record of games for United came on to score and win us the league. We had won the league. But the season wasn't over, we still had the small matter of completing our first European Cup in 9 years - Our 3rd in the history of Manchester United.
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
This isn't an extra month, but I felt it was fair to give its own paragraph because this game was special. The stage was set in Moscow, and the game begun. We started attacking straight away and the full first half we were on top. Ronaldo, yes him again with his 42nd of the season, scored to opener, a brilliant header, and put himself far ahead at the top of the scoring charts. But the half ended badly. Whta must have been Chelsea only true attack of the half the ball broke to Frank Lampard, and he finsihed it easily enough. 1-1. The second half and extra time dragged, Chelsea now on top, and were on top until late in extra time where we recieved our reward for keeping our calm. Drogba, howver, didn't. He slapped Vidic, and was duly sent off. One penalty taker out of the way, now. Cheerio rang through the pubs across Manchester and far far further to all reds worldwide.
The the penalties began. Tevez stepped up,s ent Cech the wrong way,cool as you like. Ballack scored his too. Then Carrick also sent Cech the wrong way, but Belletti didnt let Chelsea down. Up stepped ROnaldo. Our penalty taker. He stepped up, did his pause, and missed. Cech had saved it. Chelsea took full advantage scoring their next 2 Lampard and Cashley Cole. Hargreaves scored the best penalty of the night, top corner. Then came Nani. If he missed we were out. No pressure, then. He made no mistakes. "Up steps Mr. Chelsea" were the words of the ITV commentator who throughout the penalties had obviously been supporting Chelsea. Yes, I thought, Mr Chelsea before telling my brother he'd slip, miss and rebreak his elbow. He stepped up, and slipped! But Van Der Sar had already dived the wrong way. My heart sankg, until I saw the ball hit the post! We were still in it!!! Anderson scored, as did Kalou, then giggs put his away too. Now Anelka came up. The pressure was on and he couldnt take it. The Incredible Sulk hit the ball and Van Der Sar saved! CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE AGAIN. DOUBLE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND AND EUROPE. THIS UNITED TEAM HAD CEMENTED THEIR PLACE IN HISTORY!
BRING ON 2009!
Gavinm32 - summarises the season briefly
Another SAF team that is evolving into something that will surpass the greatest teams in Old Trafford history.
These young lads have been blooded into the halls of legend by their achievements so far. Only League and European Champions this sesaon - PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANOTHER TREBLE!
This team are mere babies in comparison to the Bests, Laws, Charltons, Robsons, Cantona's and the many legends who has passed through the Theatre of Dreams over time.
We must all now believe that only greater things will come to this team and that all other teams will take a long bow to Fergies Babes, not only now, but for future generations also.
What can they achieve? only time will tell, but I think it will be a good time!
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I hope you've enjoyed reading. See you in August!
Scott
When I first became a supporter of this club we weren’t having the best time of things. We were dropping points against teams like Blackburn, Fulham and Leeds. I’d always read about always having faith with United but to an extent I couldn’t work out why, we never seemed to have faith in ourselves so how could I be expected to? I often cite my United beginnings as the reason why I’m nervous before every game we play, always nervous we’ll drop points against the smaller teams we should be beating or always nervous we’ll not get a good enough result to progress.
The team we are now is very different to the team we were back then but that nervousness before each game has remained throughout my time as a supporter despite the success of the last two seasons.
That Wednesday night, we’d all been through so much before the lottery of the penalty shootout, which is loved by the supporters of the winning team, loathed by the supporters of the losing team.
We had created chance after chance in the first half but had only taken one of them. We had dominated the first 45 minutes but Chelsea levelled the score before half time with a goal from Frank Lampard. Another 45 minutes later and the score was still level, extra time was required. The first period saw Lampard hit the crossbar, I was beginning to lose hope. It was all Chelsea. Then a chance for United, Giggs’ effort was cleared off the line by eventual United hero John Terry.
Half time in extra time, still 1-1. The second period of extra time was just as eventful. The hopefully departing Didier Drogba was then sent off for a childish slap at Vidic. Chelsea were down to ten men with the shootout looming large. United couldn’t break down the ten men to snatch a last gasp winner to prevent penalties. Hope was still high though, with memories of last summer’s penalty shoot out against Chelsea in the Community Shield, where United won convincingly. The full time whistle was blown, it was still head in the hands time for many including myself.
The first four penalties were all scored with little nerves being shown from the players. Up stepped 42 goal Cristiano Ronaldo, a certainty to score you’d think. His poor penalty was easily saved by Cech, advantage Chelsea. Lampard scored his penalty, as did Owen Hargreaves. Cashley Cole was to take Chelsea’s fourth, he put it to the left of the keeper. VDS got a touch on the penalty but couldn’t prevent it going in. I’d all but given up hope at this point. Nani scored to make it 4-4. John Terry took the responsibility of the fifth penalty for Chelsea. I couldn’t watch, it had all become too much for me. My face pressed into the sofa cushion. “Oh, he’s missed it, he’s missed it!” was the cry from the TV. 4-4 it stayed. The next three takers were Anderson, Kalou & Ryan Giggs. All successful.
Then came Anelka, formerly of Citeh, ‘pool and L’Arse. Van der Sar pointed to the left, using his experience to try to unsettle his opponent. It worked. Anelka put his penalty to the right of Van Der Sar. In a moment that seemed like it was in slow motion as VDS flung himself to the right and palmed away Anelka’s penalty. Champions of Europe once again!
That night taught me a very important lesson: when United are involved, however dire the situation looks, there is always hope, for we are United and we don’t surrender. We fight until the death and don’t rest until we conquer all before us.
Raisnhell – gives his review of the season as a whole
On Sunday, August 5th, 2007, Manchester United kicked off its 129th over-all, and its 33rd consecutive top-division season when it played Chelsea FC for the Charity Shield. The game was held at Wembley in front of an audience of some 80,000. The game drew levelled at 1 goal for each side, with Ryan Giggs scoring United’s first goal for the season. The game went into penalty kicks to decide the winner, and Edwin van der Sar emerged the hero, saving all attempts by Chelsea players to sink the ball into United’s net. Manchester United on the FA Charity Shield 3-0 on penalty kicks. At that time, who was to know that the season’s rivalry between the two clubs end in a similar fashion at the end of the season. The drama that unfolded in the next 10 months could not be envisaged by any Hollywood writer.
On Saturday, August 11th, 2007, the Barclays Premier League started its 16th season. Manchester United played their first game of the league’s 2007-08 season hosting Reading FC at the Old Trafford. The game saw United kick-off, arguably, its “worst season start” under Sir Alex Ferguson. In the beginning weeks of the season United were without Wayne Rooney, due to a foot injury which he picked up against Reading and Ronaldo who got a 3-match ban for apparently headbutting Portsmouth's Richard Hughes. After drawing against Reading, United drew against Portsmouth and lost to their arch rivals Manchester City. Manchester United were in the bottom half of the league, in the 17th position. It was the first time they were in the relegation zone after 3 games since 1992. Worst start ever under Sir Alex? Yes.
And then began the strenuous journey back into the fight to defend our Trophy from the hands of the Londoners and the Scousers. United hosted Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford, and United’s new wonder boy Nani scored the game’s only goal, and his first for United, in the middle of the second half to lead us back into the fight. Watch it. The euphoric strike seemed to put enough juice into the United squad that it went on to win its next four games. Included in the month’s games was the battle against Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, Chelsea’s then manager, left the club guessing just two days before the game, forcing Avram Grant into the manager’s job. A helpless Chelsea lost 2-0 to United with goals from Louis Saha and the new signing Carlos Tevez, who scored his first goal for United. After 8 games, United has just conceded 2 goals, 3 less than at the same juncture the previous season.
However, what happened next was the killing of a giant. Conventry City defeated United 2-0 in the Carling Cup. Somehow it came as no surprise to us as we fielded a very young and weak side against a highly motivated team. It was the only game United played in the cup. The average age in the United team was 21, and Sir Alex was accused, as always, for belittling the cup and not giving the respect that it deserved. Sir Alex, United, and its supporters, just brushed the accusations aside.
The month of September saw united climb from the 10th position in the league to the 2nd, re-igniting the fight with Arsenal for the top seat in the league. Sir Alex iterated his pleasure at the renewed battle between himself and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
The next month saw United go on a goal hungry rout that probably announced to the world, “we are still here, don’t count us out...bitches!” Having defeated Roma 1-0 at Old Trafford in the Champions’ League group stages, United took their next four games to another level. Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa, Dynamo Kiev, and Middlesbrough all suffered the brunt of 4 screaming goals scored against each of them by United. It was official, United were not backing down.
Then came November, Arsenal game being the first of the month, and till the end it seemed like we’ll win it and get on the top of the league for atleast till the new year. Rooney scored off a deflection off Gallas in the 45 minute, and Ronaldo scores United’s second after Fabregas leveled the score early in the second half. But Gallas reprieved himself for Arsenal to draw the game at 2-2 in the dying minutes. November saw us loose to Bolton 1-0 and end our 10-game unbeaten streak. We slid into the 3rd position for a week behind Chelsea who were slowly creeping up to spoil the party at the top.
Then United came back in December, winning the next 5 games including the pleasing 1-0 win through Tevez against the scousers at Anfield. Ronaldo saw himself scoring 2 goals in as many minutes against Everton. Saha scored his double on Boxing Day against Sunderland, the new club for United legend Roy Keane. Keano’s entry into the Stadium of Light stands got him a standing ovation and a huge welcome from the United away support, and a special 4-0 loss from his ex-boss Sir Alex. In the meantime United had cruised through the group stages in the UEFA Champions League with a 4-0 win over Kiev, 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon and a 1-1 away draw against Roma.
And then came the last game of the year 2007. December 29th, 3 days after the 4-0 rout at Sunderland. United played West Ham at Upton Park, and seemed like they will win after Ronaldo scored the first goal with a header. It was his chance to seal the win via a penalty, but he shot it wide, which Hammers took full advantage of and came back to defeat United 2-1. The defeat ended United’s year with a 2nd place in the league and only 18 games to go. Arsenal 1st, and Chelsea close behind United.
The first game of the year 2008 was against Birmingham City and United won the hard fought battle 1-0 with an early goal from Tevez. Sir Alex came under fire when he voiced his dismay at the atmosphere at Old Trafford saying that he felt the atmosphere at the stadium was like a funeral. Those he praised the away support the next game at Aston Villa on January 5th, it didn’t help him much. The January 5th game was United’s first game in its short lived FA Cup season, which had United beat Aston Villa 2-0. Newcastle was now the new club of United fan-favorite Alan Smith. The lad had bled in the United shirt and was a star in Roma’s butchery at United’s hands last season in the Champion’s League. Newcastle strolled on the Old Trafford pitch without a manager. Arsenal had just drew at Birmingham City 1-1. The top position was up for grabs. If United beat the Magpies they would be on the top of the league. BOOM! The game begins and United announce they mean business. United are victorious 6-0!! Ronaldo was the hero of the day with his first hat-trick. Carlos Tevez got his first double and came close to getting his hat-trick. Ferdinand also got a goal in the late minutes of the game. Alan Smith was Newcastle’s captain that day, and protested furiously after the 6th goal, and was red carded by the ref.
Wayne Rooney came back on the score sheets with United’s 2-0 win over Reading and United continued their good form beating Spurs 3-1 in the FA Cup, and into the league’s return leg beating Pompey 2-0. We were now on top of the league.
February had us at the edge of the seat as we drew away 1-1 at Spurs and slipped down back into the second position behind Arsenal. Chelsea, in the meantime, were churning out 1-0 results and cruising in the 3rd position, with Grant at the helm. His pathetic attempt at mind games became a spectacle for United fans all over and a media joke as many started comparing him to a toad. Chelsea seemed like a broken club following claims by Didier Drogba about unsettling feelings he got there. However, Chelsea were still getting the wins and seemed as if they will ending the season in the third place as United and Arsenal were still winning in style.
February 6th was the 50th year to the day when United’s plane crashed in Munich killing 8 of its players and seriously injuring its legendary manager Sir Matt Busby. The emotional day was soon followed by a derby game against Manchester City, to which Sir Alex had earlier protested. The game was highly publicized by the media and the high emotions caused an under performance by United and their eventual loss to City 2-0. It was highly speculated that City fans will spoil the minute’s silence to be observed by the club. City’s manager, Sven, had to send letters to all City fans’ homes to urge them to pay respect to those who died that day. It was argued that instead of the silence, the fans should applaud the contribution and life of the Munich tragedy’s victims. The silence was observed however and the fans kept their promise. The next day, Arsenal beat Blackburn 2–0 to open up a five-point lead at the top of the table. But United came back with a resounding 5-1 victory over Newcastle, with both Rooney and Ronaldo getting a double, and Saha also getting on the score sheets. And United closed the gap back to the 3 points. United traveled to Lyon in the Champion’s League and got their away goal in the 1-1 game.
March had United playing Fulham at Craven Cottage and United won 3-0, followed by a 1-0 home win over Lyon taking them into the quarter-finals in Europe. However United suffered a setback in their campaign as the Treble Talks started showing their heads again. The media speculated that this could be another Treble winning year, just like all the others before this one. But all talks were squashed as United lost to 1-0 Portsmouth in the FA Cup, after Thomaz Kuszczak was sent off for a bad tackle. Ferdinand had to step-in to take control of United’s posts, but he failed to save the penalty, and United were out of the FA Cup. United then traveled to Derby to reassert their dominance, but had to fight really hard to earn it through Ronaldo’s late 76th minute goal. United’s number 1 and number 2 goal keepers were both unavailable and Ben Foster had to take the charge of the goal. He proved his worth with some brilliant saves and kept United afloat. Arsenal on the other side had drawn against a ten men Middlesbrough.
United were on top of the league, with a superior goal difference and a game in hand. With the Derby game now behind them United looked forward and beat Bolton 2-0.
March 23rd was dubbed by the ever greedy media as “Grand Slam Sunday”. United played hosts to Liverpool early in the day and Chelsea had Arsenal later. United went in knowing that a win will put a lot of pressure on both the London teams. United played unimpressively in the first 10 minutes as Liverpool tried to push United back, but that was until Mascherano challenged Paul Scholes and was given a warning by the ref. United let loose after that and scored their first through a beautiful header off Rooney’s cross by local lad Wes Brown. United fans erupted in the stands. Half time approached and Scholes makes an awful tackle. Liverpool get a free kick, and Scholes escapes a yellow. Torres finds this unacceptable and protests to the refree who immediately shows him the yellow. Mascherano got furious over this and started arguing with the ref. What followed was a drama worth laughs as Mascherano is sent off for dissent and the scousers are reduced to 10 men. United bang in some more goals and (again) win over the scousers 3-0. Ronaldo and Nani both score their first against them, with Nani being the central man in both goals. Arsenal and Chelsea play right after the Untied game, and end the game 2-1 with a brace from Drogba after an early lead by Arsenal.
The race to the top of the league is now opened up. United are on the top with 5 points ahead of Chelsea followed by Arsenal. The pundits are now eating their words after the ruled out Chelsea and declared Arsenal the eventual winners. United silence them further with a 4-0 win over Villa the following game.
The April Fools Day heard many fools asking United to show another 7-1 win over Roma that day in the Champions League, but as is the world of football, United shun Roma 2-0 away and 1-0 the next week at Old Trafford to advance into the semi-finals. In between, however, United dropped points 2-2 to Middlesbrough who were becoming a pain for the top sides.
United played Arsenal next and w in here would throw the gunners out of the race. The first half finished without goals but in the second half, Adebayor handed the ball into the United goal and drew the first blood. The referee did not see anything from his position and the goal was allowed to stand. United then answered back with a penalty taken by Ronaldo. Gallas was again their culprit as he handled the ball in the Arsenal box. Then 20 minutes to go Evra is brought down 25 yards from the goal. Ronaldo and Hargreaves key up to take the kick, and everyone expects Ronaldo to take the kick. But Hargreaves steps up not paying heed to Ronaldo and WHAM! GOAL!!! A brilliant kick by the English all-rounder end in the back of the Arsenal net and United are on the top! United hold on to the lead and win the game, throwing the Gunners out of the race.
Chelsea have a chance to close the lead that United hold to 3 points, but fail as they draw 1-1 to Wigan.
United are now in the middle of April with 4 games remaining in the league and 5 points adrift Chelsea. United have to face Blackburn Rovers at their home, Chelsea at the Bridge, West Ham home and Wigam away. In between they play the Champions League semi-finals against a strong Barcelona. The drama, ladies and gentlemen, comes to sweating palms, nail biting and jittery fingers.
April 19th, United take on Blackburn, and after a grueling game, they draw 1-1 with a very late heart stopping header from Tevez to save United its face. Chelsea in the meantime have won over Everton and the lead is down to three points as Chelsea win over Everton.
April 23rd, United travel to Barcelona in the Champions League, and draw 0-0 after Ronaldo misses a penalty. The demonic pundits are now saying United’s CL campaign is over. United are under pressure to crack.
April 26th, United travel to Chelsea for the Premier League. United have a relatively weaken side but hold on for the first 45 minutes after which Ballack opens the score sheets with a header into the nets. United then answer back with a goal from Wayne Rooney, his first ever against the Blues. However, in the dying minutes Carrick handles the ball in the penalty area and is controversially given a hand ball. Chelsea score and win, and United are now leveled with Chelsea on points and only lead the table with a far superior goal difference. Chelsea’s manager, the Toad-master Grant, says goal difference should not matter and the teams should have to go through the replays to decide the winners. People all over laugh.
April 29th, following their disheartening defeat at Chelsea, United now face Barcelona at home. United are written off following their dismal Aprils’ campaign. But the Reds show their mantel as they weather the storm until Paul Scholes does what he does best, his million dollar screecher that finds the back of the Barcelona net! UNITED WIN 1-0!! Brilliant! United are in the final of the Champions League and their 9 year wait is over! United were in the final last time in 1999 when they won their famous treble. And now they are back in it. And the man to do it is the one who missed it 9 years ago. Paul Scholes. BRILLIANT!! United now seem to be happy and confident. Eyes now turn to the Premier League.
May 3rd, United host West Ham, the side that defeated them in the last game of 2007 and denied them the top of the berth in the league. United have to win this game and the next one against Wigan to win the league. It’s down to the wire. United play a weakened squad as Rooney, Vidic and Anderson are missing in the lineup. Game begins, and United start with a bang. It’s the 3rd minute and Ronaldo bursts into the scene with a fantastic goal! United are 1-0 up. 20 minutes pass, no change, and suddenly its Ronaldo again, and United are 2-0 up. Within the next few minutes Tevez scores a scorching 25 yard goal to put United up 3-0. Just before half time however, Hammers find the net with a bicycle kick from Ashton. The score is 3-1 United. Nani then ends up in an altercation with Neill and finds himself with a red card. United are now one man down and fans are busting on Nani for being immature in the fight. However, United don’t loose faith and not only do they deny the Hammers the 1-man advantage, but also score via a deflecting shot by Michael Carrick from 30 yards. United win 4-1 over Hammers and the last day of the league now is the title decider.
United are still level with Chelsea only leading them on goal difference as Chelsea won over Newcastle 2-0 the following Monday. United need to equal or better Chelsea’s result against Bolton to win the league.
May 11th, 2008. Last day of the Barclays Premier League. United play Wigan, managed by Steve Bruce, United’s old captain, and one who promised to give United a run for their money. Chelsea and most of the media start speculating on Brucey’s intentions and honesty. He is an old United player and legend, will he allow United to win? It forces Brucey to come out in the public and reassure that none of that will happen. In the meantime Chelsea are to face Bolton who have just been cleared off the relegation zone and are seen partying out in the public. United call the media to also scrutinize their intentions seeing they were not serious about their game against Chelsea.
Well, the day arrives and United take stage. The game begins and it looks like we will have to work extra hard to win. United come on top in the 33rd minute with Ronaldo’s penalty, and United are 1-0 up. Elsewhere, Chelsea are still 0-0 with Bolton, until the 62nd minute when Chelsea score and it seemed like we will win the league on goal difference alone. Wigan are still not done and pressure us further. But we hold on and Ryan Giggs, the man who opened United’s season with his goal against Chelsea in the Charity Shield, scores a brilliant goal in the Wigan box in the 80th minute and makes it 2-0. United are definitely going to win the league now. But the fun did not then there. Bolton scored the leveling goal against Chelsea in the 90th minute to deny Chelsea 3 points, and United win on points alone, and also a far superior goal difference.
AND UNITED WIN THE LEAGUE! Sir Alex and Ryan Giggs win their 10th League title, shattering the record books, and taking their place in United’s history.
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Next up the Champions League!
May 21st, 2008. Venue: Moscow. Teams: Manchester United FC vs. Chelsea FC
United start the play fast and score in the middle of the second half with Ronaldo’s brilliant header in the 26th minute. United seemed to dominate the first half and should have been 3-0 up had it not been for the slippery ground. The ground gave us the beat again as United’s star goal keeper Van der Saar slipped while coming out of the box to save the ball that double deflected off the United defenders and landed in front of Lampard. Chelsea equalized the game 1-1 just before the whistle blew at half time. What followed next was a script out of a movie. Missed chances all over, fights erupting, and frayed nerves on both sides. In the Mid-way through the second half of extra time, a large incident involving Carlos Tevez and John Terry kicked off. In the ensuing melée, the referee spotted a slap on Vidic by Drogba, and had no hesitation in sending the Ivorian international off. John Terry also seemed to spit on Tevez and is now under investigation by the authorities. Despite the one man advantage, United were unable to find a winner and the match went to penalties.
United were the first to the penalty box – Tevez. GOAL! 1-0 Chelsea next – Ballack. Goal! 1-1 United again – Michael Carrick. Goal! 2-1 Chelsea – Belleti. Goal! 2-2 United up again – Ronaldo. Miss! Keeper saves it! 2-2 Chelsea – Lampard. Goal! 2-3 (United seem to be on the verge of loosing it) United – Hargreaves. Goal!! 3-3 Chelsea – Cole. Goal!! 3-4 United – Nani. Goal! Brilliant one too! 4-4 Chelsea – John Terry. MISS!! The Chelsea captain slips and missed the goal! 4-4!!! United – Anderson. Nerves are frayed. GOAL!!!!!! 5-4!! Chelsea – Kalou. Can he make it or miss? Goal! 5-5!!
Now it’s on to sudden death
United – Ryan Giggs steps up to take the penalty. It must go in, or else. GOALL!!!!!! 6-5!! Chelsea – Anelka. The man who’s goal defeated us earlier in the season comes up. Van der Saar must save it. MISS!! VAN DER SAAR MAKES THE SAVE OF HIS LIFE TO DENY THE CHELSEA MAN AND UNITED WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ON PENALTIES!!!!! HISTORY!!!!
Click to watch the penalties and celebrations. Other videos
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That ladies and gents was United’s 2007-08 season, in a nut shell. What has been left out of the interest of Real Madrid in Ronaldo, and media contouring attempts to say that Ronaldo is not happy at United; Grants’ dumb attempts to play mid games; Mourinho’s absence to provide us the delusions and comedy. Sunderland’s first season in the top flight under our legend that is Roy Keane and the ridiculous amount of ex-United players at Sunderland; and ofcourse, the fact that Ronaldo broke Georgie Best’s record of most goals scored, and winning the six individual awards, including the Premier League Golden Boot for 31 goals in the league. His total tally? 42 goals!
An honorary mention to those who lost their lives at Munich, 50 years ago. We shall miss you. United renamed their tunnel on February 6th to Munich Tunnel
MUFCjoe - offers his summary of the season
AUGUST
Bar the penalty win over Chelsea to win the Charity Shield, this season didn't start quite as planned. Last season 5-1 slaughtering of Fulham wasn't repeated vs Reading and despite playing them off the park, we couldn't make the breakthrough. 0-0 it finished. I personally never got to see the Portsmouth game as I was on holiday, but we still didn't manage to grab our first win of the season and a 1-1 draw was all we could muster. Then came City at Wastelands. Surely the perfect time to get our first win, no? We murdered them, outplayed them throughout but a deflected goal was our downfall, not even managing a draw. 1-0 City won. 2 points from 9. Not title-winning form. Late into the game vs Tottenham we needed a goal, and Nani, the young signing from Sporting Lisbon, provided scoring a trademark scorcher, and our season was kickstarted.
SEPTEMBER
Wins against teams like Sunderland and Everton followed. The Champions League then begun, and so did That Boy Ronaldo's incredible goalscoring haul. The only goal of the game against Ronnie's old club begun what we hoped would be a great champions league campaign.
What made this win even better was Chelsea sacking manager Jose Mourinho, and bringing in Avram Grant. Guess who was next up for the Reds? A 2-0 loss in his first game, inflicted by a fantastic United performance. First time for the season we'd scored over 1 goal, and certainly wasn't to be the last. We were knocked out of the Carling Cup, by COventry, but continued our run of 1-0 wins vs Birmingham.
OCTOBER
Soon the season really began with Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo, 'The Holy Trinity', kicked off, with United scoring 4 goals, 4 games running!
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER
Then Arsenal grabbed a lucky last minute equaliser at home and celebrated like they'd won the league after Gallas scored. But we got back to winning ways soon enough, winning 8 of our next 10 games.
JANUARY
January came, and United needed to get back their true classy form, and it came back, just in time with Rooneys return, in our second game of the month - Villa in the Cup - 0-0 unitl on came Rooney for a late goal and assist. His return pushed us to greater glory vs Newcastle in our biggest win of the season. And incredible first half performance, made even more incredible by nobody scoring!!! But the second half brought the goals - 6 to be exact. Ronaldo's first hat-trick for the club. The announcer must have begun to get tired of shouting out his name and number and listening to 'That Boy Ronaldo makes England look shite'. January had been a fantastic month, and had to be rounded off in style. Ronaldo obviously agreed, scoring twice vs Portsmouth, the second described as the "Best freekick the PRemierships ever seen" by Sir ALex Ferguson.
FEBRUARY
February was a mixed month, incredible highs - 5-1 win over Newcastle (KEEGAN IS BACK ; KEEGAN FOR ENGLAND) and a 4-0 FA Cup win over Arsenal ; the beginning of their downfall ; Nanis seal dribble. This month begun with a 1-1 draw away to Tottenham, Tevez' late equaliser (not his only valuable goal) grabbing a valuable point, but the next game was incredibly low. 6th February 1958, 3.04 p.m, Munich, 23 died, 8 United players, The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester. The minutes silence was impeccable, buit the United performance was poor, losing a second time to City, this time 2-1.
MARCH
Now at the business end to the season we needed a good March, and bar our FA Cup exit to Portsmouth, the eventual winners, we got a good March. And with it came a few new songs, Andersonsonson and Viva Ronaldo. We needed a new Ronaldo song the amount he was scoring. Especially for when he overtook George Bests longstanding record against Bolton. After that, he wouldnt rest on his laurels, scoring the second in a fantastic 3-0 win over Liverpool and scoring one of the goals of the season, a classy flick, against Villa. Add this goal to his 3 assists and you have THE best player in the world at his best.
APRIL
8 fixtures in April. 4 Champions League, 4 in the Premiership. In this month we progressed to the Champions League Semis with 2 wins over Roma (6th game vs them in 2 years!), and from there we progressed to the final, only the third in the clubs history. We never played our natural game against Barcelona, but no compalints at keeping Messi, Eto'o, Henry and the like quiet with 2 clean sheets. Who better to score the tie-winning goal than Paul Scholes with an incredible thunderbolt into the top corner on 14 minutes! The atmosphere was excellent, best home atmosphere of the season in my opinion and many others. We'll win it 3 times. But the league was much scarier as, for me, it was the trophy I craved most. A draw against Middlesborough put us in doubt, but a win over Arsenal left us 5 points clear at the top. Just 4 games to go, we had to do it from here! Blackburn, however, proved trickier than expected, and we were lsoing 1-0 until 87 minutes. A 2 point gap wasn't enough with Chelsea up next at Stamford Bridge! Then, again, we did it, and Tevez was the man. Hence utter carnage in the away end, we now had a 3 point gap, with our massively superior goaldifference, meaning we could lose at Stamford Bridge and still have it in our hands. We did lose at Stamford Bridge through a late Ballack penalty. Hence pure doom. But it was still in our hands. Wins against West Ham and Wigan and we were champions.
MAY
May. The moth of finals. Every game was massive. First up, West Ham. The nerves before the game were incredible. Any slip ups (no pun intended John Terry) and the league was thrown away. But those nerves were settled 2 minutes in when, guess who, Ronaldo scored again. His 39th goal of the season was not all, though and he soon scored again, 40 goals, 30 league goals, and he's a winger. Simply incredible. Then the best goal of the game from Tevez, a thunderbolt and it was sealed. 4-1 the game finished. 2 games, 2 trophies. Wigan, Chelsea. Wigan first, and a Ronaldo penalty (31 league goals to equal Shearer) set us off. We were still in doubt though until Giggs, on the day he equalled Bobby Charltons record of games for United came on to score and win us the league. We had won the league. But the season wasn't over, we still had the small matter of completing our first European Cup in 9 years - Our 3rd in the history of Manchester United.
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL
This isn't an extra month, but I felt it was fair to give its own paragraph because this game was special. The stage was set in Moscow, and the game begun. We started attacking straight away and the full first half we were on top. Ronaldo, yes him again with his 42nd of the season, scored to opener, a brilliant header, and put himself far ahead at the top of the scoring charts. But the half ended badly. Whta must have been Chelsea only true attack of the half the ball broke to Frank Lampard, and he finsihed it easily enough. 1-1. The second half and extra time dragged, Chelsea now on top, and were on top until late in extra time where we recieved our reward for keeping our calm. Drogba, howver, didn't. He slapped Vidic, and was duly sent off. One penalty taker out of the way, now. Cheerio rang through the pubs across Manchester and far far further to all reds worldwide.
The the penalties began. Tevez stepped up,s ent Cech the wrong way,cool as you like. Ballack scored his too. Then Carrick also sent Cech the wrong way, but Belletti didnt let Chelsea down. Up stepped ROnaldo. Our penalty taker. He stepped up, did his pause, and missed. Cech had saved it. Chelsea took full advantage scoring their next 2 Lampard and Cashley Cole. Hargreaves scored the best penalty of the night, top corner. Then came Nani. If he missed we were out. No pressure, then. He made no mistakes. "Up steps Mr. Chelsea" were the words of the ITV commentator who throughout the penalties had obviously been supporting Chelsea. Yes, I thought, Mr Chelsea before telling my brother he'd slip, miss and rebreak his elbow. He stepped up, and slipped! But Van Der Sar had already dived the wrong way. My heart sankg, until I saw the ball hit the post! We were still in it!!! Anderson scored, as did Kalou, then giggs put his away too. Now Anelka came up. The pressure was on and he couldnt take it. The Incredible Sulk hit the ball and Van Der Sar saved! CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE AGAIN. DOUBLE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND AND EUROPE. THIS UNITED TEAM HAD CEMENTED THEIR PLACE IN HISTORY!
BRING ON 2009!
Gavinm32 - summarises the season briefly
Another SAF team that is evolving into something that will surpass the greatest teams in Old Trafford history.
These young lads have been blooded into the halls of legend by their achievements so far. Only League and European Champions this sesaon - PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANOTHER TREBLE!
This team are mere babies in comparison to the Bests, Laws, Charltons, Robsons, Cantona's and the many legends who has passed through the Theatre of Dreams over time.
We must all now believe that only greater things will come to this team and that all other teams will take a long bow to Fergies Babes, not only now, but for future generations also.
What can they achieve? only time will tell, but I think it will be a good time!
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I hope you've enjoyed reading. See you in August!
Scott
