I consider myself a rational man. I don’t believe in Feng Shui, horoscopes, divination, phrenology or other methods manufactured and exploited by slick smooth-talking hucksters.
On the other hand, I’m also a diehard football fan and specifically, a diehard Manchester United fan. Being a fan of anything means being something of a fanatic and the fanatical aren’t exactly poster children for common sense and rationality.
What all that means is I somehow convinced myself last August I wasn’t going to blog about Manchester United this season until it was all over because doing so would be, um, bad mojo. (Don’t ask me to explain it further.)
United did end up winning the Premiership after four years so I guess there might be something to the mojo thing.
If you were a United fan you would have been delighted by the title-win but you would have been absolutely thrilled by the manner with which United won the Premiership after nine months of hard campaigning.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a United side this exciting, this stylish, this quick, this incisive. At their best this season, United were playing “ooh aah” football, breathtaking and beautiful.
It wasn’t just entertaining football; it was effective football as well. United scored more goals than every other team in the Premiership on their way to the title.
Here are some links to videos to relive the season when the Premiership trophy returned to Old Trafford.
20 August 2006 United 5 Fulham 1 (2:37).
The Red Devils were champing at the bit and raring to go, and Fulham were on the receiving end of a spanking at Old Trafford in United’s first Premiership match. No van Nistelrooy? No problem. United were four-nil up in the first 20 minutes of the match.
24 February 2007 Fulham 1 United 2 (2:28).
It looked like United would have to settle for a draw in a tough match with Fulham but Ronaldo had other ideas. He gets the ball inside his own half in the 89th minute and sets off on a run …
17 March 2007 United 4 Bolton 1 (4:11).
The highlight must surely be United’s second and fourth goals which were lightning-quick box-to-box counterattacks.
31 March 2007 United 4 Blackburn 1 (4:54).
United were trailing and time was running out. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. He scores goals, Paul Scholes, and he did so once again in the 60th minute after dribbling past three defenders. United took heart from his effort and went on to slam three more past Brad Friedel.
10 April 2007 United Roma 7-1 (4:30).
This, the perfect display of United’s swashbuckling attacking style, was the highlight of the season for me. Remarkably, the match wasn’t quite as one-sided as the score would indicate as Roma had same number of attempts on goal as United and indeed, were the better side before that crucial first goal went in courtesy of an audacious shot by Carrick. The floodgates were opened and United went on to destroy Roma with swagger and style.
24 April 2007 United 3 Milan 2 (4:03).
United started brightly with a goal after some comical goalkeeping by Dida but Milan patiently clawed their way into contention and were rewarded with two fine goals by Kaka. United were second best after that and weren’t getting much joy until Gattuso went off injured. The Red Machine then purred to life and Rooney scored twice to give United a slender lead.
28 April 2007 Everton 2 United 4 (4:38).
“Well, well, well, would you believe it?” Andy Gray asked and it was actually hard to believe even for someone used to United’s come-from-behind victories. Two-nil down away at Goodison Park after 50 minutes, United were in deep trouble especially since Chelsea were leading 2-1 against Bolton. Things turned around quickly. United beat Everton and Chelsea could only draw. The title wasn’t won yet and wouldn’t be until Chelsea dropped points again against Arsenal but as United’s players and manager celebrated, the commentator noted, “They can smell it now.”
2 May 2007 Milan 3 United 0 (3:45).
United were completely dominated by AC Milan. So much so that Dida didn’t raise a sweat. That’s not to say he wasn’t wet. Everyone was in the heavy rain at the San Siro. It would be far too easy to blame the conditions for United’s loss but AC Milan had no problem whatsoever fizzing the ball around. United, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to get past Gattuso to mount a serious attempt at the AC Milan goal.
19 May 2007 United 0 Chelsea 1 (7:52).
If the match against Roma was the highlight of the season, the FA Cup final, United’s final match of the season, was the absolute nadir. United started off cautiously and tentatively and the players who got the most time on the ball were probably Vidic and Heinze since they kept playing backpasses intead of pushing the ball forward. United were made to pay for their stolid tactics when Drogba one-two’d with Lampard for the winning goal deep in extra time.
Cristiano Ronaldo. (5:42 and 4:44)
He began the season as public enemy number one and finished it by being the number one footballer. This was the season the kid from Madeira turned into a devastating footballer. It was not uncommon to see three opponents converging on Ronaldo when he had the ball and the only way they could seemingly stop him was to foul him. He got knocked down a lot but to his credit, he always got back up, ready to play. He played a total of 53 matches, scored 23 goals from midfield and while it’s true he faded towards the end of the season, he had done enough.
Season highlights 06/07 (9:37).
A compilation of memorable moments from United’s season.
