The Guardian is bringing out their preview of the season on Monday, which will provide you with team-by-team information as well as off-the-wall and interesting critiques on the football league’s top teams.
The most sought after topic, as always, is Manchester United, with The Season discussing at length what life will be like without Cristiano Ronaldo, for other fans in this league as much as us! Here is just a snippet:
Most fans pay to participate. To chant and point and turn red in the face with the self-righteous wrath of someone who has just blown the family holiday budget to keep a bunch of preening prima donna millionaires in chest wax and emerald encrusted manbags. This is why the sight of Cristiano Ronaldo kissing the Real Madrid badge as he paraded around the Bernabéu back in July will have left most Premier League supporters feeling listless and bereft. Because when it comes to getting a stadium on its feet, quite often howling and making masturbatory gestures, we have never seen his equal. David Beckham was burned in effigy and taunted about his wife’s alleged sexual preferences, but frankly the Portuguese winger has taken it to a whole new level.
This leaves a hell of a burden on the shoulders of Ashley Cole. Don’t get me wrong, the lad has done brilliantly so far, and the vomit-in-the-taxi incident showed a touch of true genius. Cole has been described as self-centred, spiteful and woefully out of touch with reality. The next nine months will give him his big chance to prove the critics right. Let’s hope he grasps it, preferably in an off-hand manner with a scowl of disappointment.
The Season, which includes plenty of stats and rumours, will also look at:
- Manchester City’s prospects after spending almost £100m in the summer
- Rafael Benitez, Liverpool’s history and their need for the title
- Foreign players’ experiences in England focusing on Wigan’s Roberto Martinez
- World Cup qualifying clips and great World Cup clichés
- Newcastle’s chances of getting out of a tough Championship
- Carlo Ancelotti’s Twitter page
- The Michael Owen-style brochures you might have missed
- The possible shift in power from the Premier League to La Liga
- ESPN and the BBC’s involvement in showing live football
- A funny look at the new and very complicated Europa League
- Uefa’s experiment with five referees per match
Last season The Guardian ignored Sir Alex Ferguson’s wisdom and predicted Chelsea would finish above United. I wonder if they’ve had a bit more sense this year… my reaction will be out in full on Monday morning.
Man Utd News 24/7
ha ha good one.i m sure with ronaldo gone they will write us off this year too.in fact last 3 years every time chelsea have been tipped to beat us to the title and we have won it.
some tabloids will also predict that shitty are stronger than us and may even finish above us blah blah but i m sure as usual we will red lot of anti united stuff
The perfect season would see us claim the treble again this year. But really, I’d settle for the league and UCL.
they don’t have a bit more sense this year, scott… they picked the dippers to finish first and chelsea to finish second.
This Sunday will give us a real insight as to were we are at. Buck the Guardian …
Well I’ll be happy enough to who the league next season. Anything else will be a bonus.
Sorry typed who instead Win( actually it was the fault of my phone’s dictionary )
Its looking real good for us at the moment barring the injuries. The real test is this sunday and am eagerly waiting for us to bring home the community shield yet again!
they have already stated on their site that they predict liverpool will finish 1st
anyone remember football focus in january, had alan hansen walking around the streets of anfield talking about how amazing its gonna be when the win the league. footy focus is the most scouser loving show…..
@doncobaino
it will be us(hopefully)or chelsea.liverpool wont win and i can gurantee dat bcoz chelsea and ouselves have the ability to convert the frustratinh 0-0 draws to 1-0 wins whereas liverpool are frustrated for the whole 90 mns.so we have an edge there.last year too we had lesser draws compared to the other teams though we lost more.
the point is these draws come in games where you completely dominate the game and in our case the goal inevitably comes at some point .maybe in 90th min or added time.
plus we match chelsea and liverpool or even better them in the ability to comeback wen we are down and our backs are against the wall.
most important ,we have players who have been there and done that.chelsea too have some players like that but liverpool donta nd that is why at some stage during the season they bottle it up wen in a decent position.
Spot on aig mate, the dippers cannot unlock defences when they get 11 men behind the ball. The one player for them that could do that at a psuh was Alonso. The ladyboy reckoned they NEEDED to keep him and get in a “Rooney” type player to do this. Well unlucky you cunt.
Also what is with this myth that I heard again on the radio that the dippers “don’t know when they are beaten, and always look to fight back”? How many draws did they suffer last season, please remind me? If one team is capable of getting results and digging in its United.
the great news ppl the guardian have not tipped united to win the league I am so relieved. but how in the hell can they all of a sudden say united will finish 3rd or 4th when arsenal chelsea and liverpool are not even much better than united. a ronaldo less united still man utd are the stronger of the rest of the premiership and actually did rival fans even see how awful at times ronaldo actually was. I think for me valencia will be the difference because he could be the best wide player in the premiership and unlike ronaldo valencia will put in crosses like kanchelskis did in that great 94 united side.
it really doesn’t come as a surprise, the media predicting scouses to finish above us, they do this every yr. and come May v all know what happens.
I think L’pool had there fair share of luck last season with so many last minutes equalizers n winners and many dubious sending off’s in there favour.
They just had there best season and were still not good enough to beat especially considering the fact we never got out of our first gear.
Happy Times Ahead, i must admit.
manutdchampions2008 – Bloody hell mate, a positive post!!
King Eric — hahaha we have an imposter in our ranks!! Somebody send a Dr to manutdchampions house, he might have hit his head.
Drew Vader LOL, I still think united are short in central midfield and a wide player because tosic not sure, nani and park offer very little and giggs is no longer a wide player. bar carrick and fletcher I still think beyond those 2 the rest are not reliable enough in CM for different reasons. I still think and I have always have thought united are better than the rest still. it is sad for teams and fans who are title contenders that they have a chance of wiining the league now with a ronaldo less united.
Yes right Guardian…
Is this the same Guardian that said along with the other doughnuts in the press, that we will not score goals after RVN left? Is this the same Guardian like the other two faced papers that said Ronaldo would achieve nothing because he like Rooney were in the wrong Utd team at the wrong time?
Well Ronaldo and Rooney have become the best players on the planet, Ronaldo walks because SAF can afford to let him go – the team becomes central to Rooney instead of Ronaldo so we have lost nothing. If Ronaldo was the centre of attention and the best player in the world that is because SAF made him so – it was his decision and it was his tactic, and now it has changed and some will argue for the better because Wayne doesn’t go diving and crying like Ronaldo (although he now has to really control his temper). Now if he has decided that it is now time for Rooney to take up that mantle – will you all not agree? I look forward to it, because once and for all we will finally find out if Rooney can not only be a brilliant MUFC player, but more importantly a leader for years to come, because unlike the other one who has a dream to fulfil, Rooney just wants to become a United Legend.
The Guardian like them all – know F*** all – sorry for the language – and in any case how many years have they (the papers) not fancied us? Do we care what they say? Where’s Man city on the lists? Liverpool have bought what exactly? Weren’t they supposed to be on a shopping spree like our neighbours? Chelsea are supposed to be signing a Marquee signing? Oh really? Do you guys reckon Roman is pumping any more money in since he’s lost so much in this recession? And as for Arsenal, well they really are us on the other side of the coin aren’t they? But they don’t have what we have, and that is experience, so thank the Lord for Scholes Giggs Neville Van Der Sar, God even Wesley…
Did they all predict we would win three titles in a row after 2006? Did they think we would boss Europe?
They think we can’t do it again.
Good luck to them then, because we are as they say Ladies and Gentlemen Manchester United football club, and we shall not be moved.
If you want what we have, then come on then, let’s see what the rest are made of.
MG — Good post.
@ MG – I got goosebumps like I’d get if the stretford saw me score a belter. top post. We’re hungry. We’re experienced, we’re full of top talent.
Fletch – keen to show he HAS emerged.
Valencia – hungry to become the next “World’s best player”. I think he might just do it too one day, like Figo did.
Kiko – hungry to put pressure on the strikers, knows he needs to score to play more. Same for Wellbeck.
Owen – world cup coming up and is DESPERATE to prove a point to one and all – united, capello, the kop, and all those who dismissed him, media anda fans alike.
Foster and Kussie – Number one spot for club and country, need I say more?
Carrick – World cup midfield spot. Hargo, Tosic, Nani, Anderson – Same.
Da silva’s, De Laat, O’shea, Brown, Red Nev, Evans, – not much room at the back, only the best will play.
Rooney – Legend making season, world wide, will want the WC too so will want the form to be at it’s peak when it counts most, end of the season.
Berba – He looks class. This season he has the hunger to replace Ronnie.
Hunger, it’s all about hunger. Chelsea? Old. Arsenal? Too raw. Liverpool? Not good enough last season and they’re weaker now. No one else matters. We are hungrier than ever.
Thanks for the comments guys – exactly the response that I was after.
Where the doom and gloom starts with us I’ll never know
You know yourselves without us the papers can’t function, any day without MUFC being not mentioned is like a day in hell for the many doughnuts out their.
It’s Liverpool’s year (yes again), yet we can sell the best player in the world and can compensate him for a Macheda or a Wellbeck, or a Da Silva etc, but Liverpool have got who exactly when selling X. Alonso?
And what did they do to change the course of last year’s title?
Run behind us, beat us, but what else did they do?, at the end we won the trophy and that is full stop.
Yes Javac it us Hunger with a capital H, something no one knows about apart from Man Utd. It will be so fun watching everyone scratch their heads again next year why the trophy ended up at OT. And may I also boldly predict that the sequel to the treble is coming. You think SAF has given up the UCL because Ronaldo has gone? Nope, never because in this Utd team we see a hunger like no other, and that will do quite handsomely.
However it is Liverpool’s year you know? Did you know? Quiet then we don’t want to tell out Billionaire rivals who need a poster to tel us that they are bigger than us – as long as we get the trophies then
As we were then Ladies and Gentlemen…
MG well the guardian have been kind to united in the last phew years. if you listen to their podcasts they give good fedback on united. the one paper that I find are more anti united is the times their podcast is quiet awful.but like I said fergie needs 2 players a CM and a wide player. if berbatov does not work out he will needs 2 add a striker. unless welbeck and macheda really start to hit the ground running. welbeck I think as the potiental to be has flexible has ronaldo. he can play right left and through the middle. macheda is that torres potiental he is that central striker.
“This leaves a hell of a burden on the shoulders of Ashley Cole” brilliant…..what fucking tosser he is
A couple of days ago Scott posted some statistics about LiverPoo playing against ten men last year. And, that was a FACT. It’s almost as if SAF was reading from Scott’s blog/post when he said that LiverPoo peaked last year and they still couldn’t win, with all the help they got from the men in black. Last year, SAF said that Chelsea were “too old” – he actually said that they had peaked and that their core players were at an age which would preclude improvement – and he was roundly derided in the press. A few days ago, SAF said that LiverPoo won’t be as good/lucky this year – and the very next day they sell their midfield pivot to TheVirus and replace him with a sicknote. With enemies like that, who needs friends !
MG,as I logged onto RoM,I was watching the TV show How I Met Your Mother,in particular,the episode “The Limo”,where Barney(The awesomest character,for the uninitiated) wants to psyche them up with his “Get Psyched” mix.The point of me saying this is,I don’t need to listen his mix to psyche me up,even though it’s awesome(I love the show).If I need to get psyched up,I’ll just write your post down on my hand,because even though I was psyched for the new season before,your post,especially the last line,took me to new levels of psychitude!
ROLL ON AUGUST 16TH!!!