England - UEFA Club Competitions Participants - 2013-2014

Manchester United --> Champions League Group Stage
Manchester City --> Champions League Group Stage
Chelsea London --> Champions League Group Stage
Arsenal London --> Champions League Play-off Round
Tottenham Hotspur (London) --> Europa League Play-off Round
Swansea City --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round
Wigan Athletic --> Europa League Group Stage

Note: Wigan was relegated from the Premier League.

23 Years Later...

1989 was the last time when Tottenham beat Manchester United at Old Trafford.

And very few people expected the team with the worst pound-for-pound, let's say, record against Man. U., in the Premier League, to do what they did this Saturday evening.

But the team run by Andre Villas-Boas did just that.
(And the young Portuguese coach celebrated each goal, and the final whistle, as if he had just won a big trophy.)

Man. U. played atrociously in the first half. Nobody can deny that. 2-0 for Spurs at half time was a deserved scoreline.
When Man. U. came back from 0-2 to 1-2 and from 1-3 to 2-3 very quickly, after the interval, though, most people probably said "Oh! Here we go...", in expectation to see another one of Man. U. 's traditional so-spectacular-that-they-cannot-be-believed-to-be-thoroughly-deserved comebacks.

But such a comeback never materialized.
And all credit goes to Tottenham for not losing their cool, even after Kagawa's goal (which made it 2-3, in the 54th minute). Maybe Villas-Boas is doing a lot of things right over there, at that team. (And reporters should quit taunting him about the Friedel-vs-Lloris situation, which is not such a big deal.)

Manchester United fans were probably expecting to see their team leapfrog Chelsea in the standings, just a few hours earlier. Instead, they were treated to seeing their team fall to four points behind their Stamford-Bridge rivals.

Oh, and did you see Alex Ferguson bitching about those four minutes of extra time that, I'm paraphrasing, did not give his team a chance to win this match?... What a cry-baby!

Highlights:

England - UEFA Club Competitions Participants - 2012-2013

Manchester City --> Champions League Group Stage
Manchester United --> Champions League Group Stage
Arsenal London --> Champions League Group Stage
Tottenham Hotspur (London) --> Europa League Group Stage
Newcastle United --> Europa League Play-off Round
Chelsea London --> Champions League Group Stage
Liverpool FC --> Europa League Third Qualifying Round

Note: Even though they finished the league in a Champions-League-Play-off position, Tottenham Hotspur was automatically relocated to the Europa League because Chelsea, who did not finish in a Champions-League position, won the 2011-2012 Champions League (and in 2012-2013 England was not permitted to enter more than 4 teams in the Champions League).

That's Why You Stay Till the End

When football is played honestly, teams can get rewarded if they stick by their guns until the end. But you never know if they will indeed be rewarded or not.
And this is what makes honest football great.

Today, Arsenal added two more points to their potential one by continuing to push forward, even in the 95th minute (the last of official added time).
Vermaelen scored, after a nice ricochet at the end of an extended Arsenal attack put the ball right at his feet.
Newcastle had held off Arsenal quite successfully up until that point.

After Newcastle's random goal - I say "random" because the Gunners goalkeeper should have been able to at least parry Ben Arfa's shot (in minute 14) - Arsenal almost instantly replied (15), through, who else but, van Persie.

The Dutchman continues to lead, in the Premier League topscorer race, with 26 goals.

Getting back, though, Arsenal is only one point behind Tottenham, now. Nice!

I bet those guys wish they had taken some points from Manchester United now...

See highlights here.

The Most Faithful of United's Bitches

It is clear to me that Tottenham will never win the Premiership title, as long as Manchester United is in the same league.

Why?
Well, because I think Tottenham is the most obedient of Man. U.'s bitches. 26 matches without beating Ferguson's team... Not even Wigan can top that.
But Wigan is probably (or, I should say, hopefully, for the good of English football) going down this year, while Tottenham keeps filling the numbers in the Premier League.

Not to say that Tottenham doesn't have a pretty good team. They can beat the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and so on. On a good day, they can beat either of Manchester United's opponents, that is.

Actually, they could beat United, too; I'm sure.

But they just don't want to.

Clearly, if ever they had a team good enough to beat the teams above them, including Man. U., it was this year. But what do they care about doing that, and about fairness?

Did you see the defending at the second United goal? (...Not that Rooney's header, in the first half, that opened the scoring, was not the result of really shoddy defending.) When Young scored his first, in minute 60, the Tottenham defenders clearly tried their best to touch the ball as little as possible, even when it came to their feet, and to give the strikers from Manchester as wide a path to put the ball on goal as possible.
Even a person not wearing needed glasses could spot the indifferent approach of Tottenham there.

Additionally, the goal that was cancelled because Adebayor supposedly handled the ball also emphasized the teamwork between Tottenham players and the referee in making sure that United does not leave White Hart Lane without any less than three points... (But maybe I'm wrong and I'll see the Spurs staff complaining about how the referee robbed them... I'm waiting to see such footage on the television news; yes, I am.)

It's very easy to fake playing football, you know, even if you're not a pro.
And when it comes to matches like this one, you don't even have to fake it to scam money from betting companies. There's a lot of money in winning the Premier League. And Manchester United disgustingly, and at any cost, wants to do it every year, I believe.
(Hence, they have these helpers, like Wigan, Bolton, the recent Fulham team, Everton, tottenham... There's a world of difference between how Tottenham represented themselves when they played City away, just a few matchdays ago, and the pathetic manner in which they conducted themselves on the pitch today.)

You know, Ferguson did not have to say that bullshit about how Redknapp's possible naming as the England coach could trouble Tottenham in the match against his team.
Any person with a little bit of brain can see that's an attempt to cover up the fix. (Oh, yeah, Redknapp's future suddenly made every Tottenham player quiver with fear against mighty ferguson 's team!... Yeah, I'll buy that... when pigs fly!)

And it's not like Tottenham did not have a cushy advantage, to be able to lose some of it without major worries. Hell, they're still four points ahead of Arsenal, even though Arsenal won!
And Arsenal and Chelsea very rarely can keep up a sustained effort this season.
That's surely some of the reasoning behind not caring if Manchester United gets these three points. (It's also unthinkable for United to fall four or five points behind Manchester City, at this time in the season, and exactly in a game against their closest lapdog.)

To conclude, though, in order to see some punishment inflicted on this shitty Spurs team, that has not played a decent game against Manchester United in decades, I hope they don't make it in the Champions League next year. That would be a really spectacular turn-around, and a good lesson to see, if only...

As for united, well, hopefully some teams that actually do come to play on the football pitch will stop their challenge, eventually, because the red devils suck this year and don't deserve to win any trophy.

See some sickening highlights here.

Glory, Glory...? Or Lucky, Lucky?

They should change that chant about Man. United, that talks about glory, to make it revere the sheer dumb luck that Alex Ferguson 's team has, so often in its history.

Giggs' goal in the last minutes of the Norwich game, which can only be qualified as lucky, is now worth two enormous points in the title race. They could count for a lot in the end, and I wish United would finally stop getting so damn lucky all the time, already.

This is why so many people are disgusted by Manchester United, and, in case somebody doesn't get it yet, let me put it very simply:
Manchester United manages to attain way more trophies than they thoroughly deserve. The number of lucky breaks and goals that go their way is so large, it's astounding.

I could enumerate some of them, and I would always leave too many out. But, to shut up anybody who might contest this, I'd like to evoke that Champions League final in 1999, against Bayern Munich, when they finally slapped the ball around a little in extra time and got the two goals needed to defeat a dumbstruck German team.

All credit to Norwich, for fighting to get a point, though.
But, of course, Man. U.'s stupid luck could not let them fall four points behind City. Not now, when they're going to play Tottenham next. (But, hey, Tottenham loses to Man. U. more frequently than to any other team, do they not?)

Spurs Drop Points, Too

Manchester United dropped points this matchday. Tottenham did, too.

It's not that Spurs did not play well at Liverpool, but they never proved better than their opponents. And they never took initiative, either.
As a matter of fact, they preferred to play the counter-attack card.

It almost worked, too, in minute 84, when Bale woke up all alone with Pepe Reina.
But Bale's shot was weak and useless. I would say his grandmother could have performed just as well in that situation.

So, Tottenham gains 0 points on Man. U. And I would say they have Bale to thank for it.

Highlights:

Thank God City Won!

Tottenham really is not up to compete for the league title.

Even when they were lucky enough to draw level, at 2-2, they did not really seek the lead. They seemed perfectly content with the draw.
In the last fifteen minutes, or so, three of the Tottenham players necessitated interruptions in game play, for their (exaggerated?) injuries to be treated. That does not look like a team wanting the win.
...Even despite Defoe's chance in minute 90 + 1.

For the good of the league, which should not have just one winner all the time, it's good that Spurs lost! Third place is like gold for them, anyway...

This link has streaming highlights.

Which is the Real Derby?

City - Spurs and Gunners - Man. U.
Two big, big games coming up on Sunday.

Some might say that Arsenal - Manchester U. is the main derby. If you look at the head-to-head against these teams until 2004, then yeah, it is.

But you have to look at the positions in the standings, and Manchester City - Tottenham is clearly the most important game of the matchday. Tottenham could pull within two points of the leaders, or the Citizens could reduce Spurs' hidden title challenge to nothing. (Not that Harry Redknapp is not trying to do that already...)

And what is there to say about Arsenal?
Even if they win, they still won't be in the top four. Enough said, about their form.
It also seems that Henry is uncertain for this encounter. What in the world?... They just got him, and he's already broken? Or do they only use him in matches against teams from the Championship (the second tier of English football)? But maybe it's just a deceiving tactic, and he will feature against Man. U. I know I'd like to see old-man Henry perform against the strongest teams in football, not the likes of Leeds.

Tottenham, a Title Contender? BullCrap!

No wonder Harry Redknapp was so quick to dismiss discussions about potentially fighting for the title. He was so strongly insisting that Tottenham is only fighting for a Champions League spot, namely third or fourth, in a TV interview, that I thought he was going to throw something in the reporter's face and run away and hide.

But, really, maybe Tottenham doesn't even want to win the title. Ever.

What ambitions have they ever had? Probably, if they were top of the table, with one match to go, they would step aside and say to the next team in the standings, surely Manchester United, "there, you take it!" ("we don't want it!")
Right, Harry?

And, indeed, true to Harry's prophetic words, Spurs quickly fucked up in the following match.
After all, they were getting too uncomfortable for Man. U. there, for a while. They better get back where they belong: Fighting against the fallen-from-grace Arsenal, and even Chelsea, now.

What a pathetic display from a team that was running like clockwork until Redknapp started making statements!