Morning all. Big game today. Especially important after seeing the ‘dippers drop points against Birmingham. Finally they seem to be getting results like the Liverpool we know. Arsenal are still motoring along, unbeaten, but then they were playing Derby.
Anyway, ideally, a preview should have been in order. But, instead, I decided to have a small change this time round. Read on to find out.
Scott, who runs the Republik of Mancunia blog and forum was kind enough to agree to an interview, or blog chat if you will.
He discusses about United’s chances this season, the Chelsea game some fan chants and many more. So I think I’d better hand over the podium to him and leave you all for the day.
Here goes…
Red Ranter: Hello Scott! Ahead of the Chelsea game, what are your thoughts on United this season? How have they played so far?
Scott: I thought we played some cracking football in the opening three matches, and it was frustrating that our performances weren’t met with the three points they deserved. Since then, we’ve seemed to take our foot off the pedal a bit, and now the points have been rolling in. I don’t expect these performances to continue for much longer though.
RR: What do you think we are lacking in? Why do you think we are yet to discover the spark in our team? Is it just injuries or does it have something to do with our tactics this season?
S: I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. Look at the team that beat Sunderland a couple of weeks ago. Eagles, Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson and Tevez all started. When half your team are new players, who haven’t played with each other and haven’t played with the rest of the team, you can’t expect things to click straight away. A lot of press has been given to Chelsea being without Drogba and Lampard for a few games, but I haven’t heard a lot about the fact we’ve been without Rooney, Ronaldo and Saha. If we can be picking up three points when we’re not playing that well, when we have injuries, and whilst we’re waiting for new players to settle…it fills me with great confidence over what we can achieve in a few months time.
RR: We know your heart (and all our collective hearts) would say Man United, but what does your mind say? Who will win the title this year? Or rather, which team has caught your eye this season and would pose a serious threat to us?
S: I was talking with my Dad about this earlier on. Anyone who reads my site will see I tend to focus on the more positive side of each seemingly gloomy situation, and so on the back of a great title win, of course I’m going to say we’re gonna win the league. Our chances have been boosted by Mourinho’s departure of course. Arsenal fans are getting a bit giddy, but when the team, a place below you in the league, are City, you need to get a grip on reality.
Arsenal have had a great start, they’ve got some great players, but I said it before the season and I’ll stick by it (famous last words), Arsenal won’t be challenging us for the title. Let’s see how they’re doing, come Christmas. Liverpool have had a good start as well, (this is their year, the fans will tell you…again) but they don’t seem to have the spark to seriously push
for the title. Rafa has showed his intentions are the same as always. Champions League comes first for them.
I’m confident we’ll be talking about Sir Alex and Giggsy’s 10th Premiership title come May.
RR: What are your thoughts ahead of the Chelsea game? Would we face a backlash or would we just run over them?
S: It’s a tricky one isn’t it? I’d rather we were facing Chelsea in a few weeks time, once the initial “we’ll show em!” attitude has died down. They’ve got a great side, and I’m sure they’ll cause us a few problems. Our defence, whilst on paper has been incredible this season (2 goals conceded in 7 games), we’ve looked pretty shaky, and it will be a real test for them when up against a quality team. I’d happy to see Chelsea’s team announced tomorrow with Drogba missing, put it that way! It’s going to be a good test for United, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it end in a draw.
RR: Knowing you are a season ticket holder and a regular at the home games, what do you reckon would be our new fan chants for Sunday’s game, especially now that Jose’s left Chelsea?
S: “You’re not special, you’re not special, you’re not special anymore!” “Bye bye Mour-in-ho, bye bye Mourin-in-ho…”
But they’ll be lots of “Championees” and “Stand up for the Champions” just to really rub salt in the wounds.
RR: What do you think would be our best bet to overcome them, tactically speaking (formations etc)?
S: We’ve got to stick with what we know, 442. The sooner we pack in playing Giggs as the supporting forward, the better. I’d like to see the usual defence, Giggs – Carrick – Scholes – Ronaldo in midfield, and Rooney – Saha up front. We’ve got to start with our best team available. Nani needs to get a good run out for 20/25 minutes, to really give Chelsea something to worry about. I think having the pace of Nani, Ronaldo, Rooney and Saha attacking the box could cause a lot of problems.
RR: Back to yourself, we know you run the RoM blog and forum for proper Reds, tell us a little more about your site for our readers.
S: I started the forum at the end of the 05/06 season. It was a pretty depressing time to be honest, losing out on the title again (after a brief comeback spell), Rooney getting injured, and then the fuss in the World Cup. Obviously, things have changed a bit since then, and we’ve had a cracking season on the forum. We have Manc season ticket holders on there, some old timers, we have fans from all over England, we have fans from the States, from Europe, from Asia, Australia, you name it! Adds to a nice mix of opinions, and it can get pretty rowdy on there at times. I picked the name Republik of Mancunia because of my strong feelings on Manchester, and the ideas and meanings behind United > England. Was gutted to see that banner only make one appearance on the Stretford End.
Essentially, the forum is just a good place for reds to go and have a laugh. Lots of banter, lots of proper footie discussion and lots of diversity.
RR: Last words, thoughts about our site (i.e Red Rants) and suggestions…
S: I really like the site. It’s nice having daily updates on the club, with opinions in there as well as the news.
WE’LL NEVER DIE!
Thanks a lot Scott. Hopefully we have a cracking game today and we get to see a United win.
We hope you enjoyed reading the interview. During the course of the season, we will try to bring in more interviews from other prominent United bloggers on Red Rants. Your comments, as always, are welcome.
Feel free to discuss away about the match too. And while you people are at it, go ahead, vote for Red Rants too. 🙂
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