Champions League Predictions

Manchester City v Barcelona 

(City to qualify)

Olympiakos v Manchester United 

(United to qualify)

AC Milan v Atletico Madrid                

(AC Milan to qualify)

Bayer Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain 

(Leverkusen to qualify) 

Galatasaray v Chelsea                 

(Chelsea to qualify)

Schalke v Real Madrid                    

(Madrid to qualify)

Zenit St Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund 

(Dortmund to qualify)

Arsenal v Bayern Munich              

(Munich to qualify)

SD

   

Januzaj, Januzaj, Januzaj

In a game that usually would have been bread and butter for Fergie, Moyes picked right and youngsters preformed. 

The difference

Welbeck was clinical and it's not very often you can say that. Two in the first half, he stepped up to the mark and filled the boots of Van Persie. Similarly to how Henderson did for Liverpool. If only he can put performances like that in every week like he does for England. 

Januzaj, Januzaj, Januzaj

Leaping on the edge of the box similarly to Ronaldo against Roma a few years back. Fantastic header, fantastic performance, very unlucky not to bag. With performances like that, surely the next number 7?

Rafael provided the vital overlap we've been missing. A right back playing right back and a right winger playing right wing, finally. The pairing of him and Valencia provided the flare we've been lacking in recent games. 

Good to see Fletcher back and get 20/30 minutes. A great reception from the United/Villa fans as well. 

SD

Midfield Crisis

United already have a crisis when it comes to the midfield and because of this there's been a distinct lack of goals. It's not very often United play the least amount of passes forward in a Premiership weekend.  It will be emphasised even more if we suffer another home defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk. 

Before Carrick suffered his injury, even out of form he seemed to hold the United midfield together better than Cleverly/Fellaini. Instead heads have turned to a 40 year old signal handedly doing his best to hold it together. He's still got it as well after his performance against Leverkusen. 

I'm still not convinced Fellaini was the right signing and at around 27 million, pressure was bound to be on. However, that's no excuse for his poor performances. A realistic replacement for Scholes would have been someone like Modric, labeled as one of the worst signings of the season for Madrid a couple of years ago, proven himself in the premiership before, he should have been snapped up early in the window before his mate from Spurs joined the Spanish giants. Minimal chance we'll get him since him and Bale are playing together again. 

Fellaini, out of his depth? To me he seems similar to Berbatov, likes to be the big fish in a small pond. 

Dead wood

If you look at the numbers Sevens before him, even by excluding it to the modern era, Valencia seems like a lost puppy on the right hand side. He may not wear the same number but he plays in the same position. One footed, predictable. 

Anderson for me is stealing a living, Cleverly isn't much better and hasn't improved with age at all and Ashley Young hasn't come close to repeating consistent performances he put in at Villa a few years ago.

'On His Day' 

Speaking of inconsistency, Nani is the definition of it. Luckily he still has 4 years left on his contract so we might see a decent performance later on, until then we'll continue to see Nani spring up on the edge of the box, expectations high, only to see him blast one over the fucking bar. Watch out if you're sat in Stretford End Upper. 

We wouldn't have any of these problems if we didn't sell a young Frenchman to the old lady a few years ago. He may have been greedy but he wasn't getting game time and I fully understand why he went.

The good things that have come out of this season already?

His name is Januzaj

Young, talented, exciting. Possible number 7 in the future?

Where would we be without Wayne Rooney this season? Below 9th as we currently stand, simple. 

SD

 

Opening fixtures

After a long, long discussion on how it was going to be achieved, a 34 week

FIFA tournament was started. (there's 3 of us, it's going to take an absolute age) 

It took place in a Champions League esc draw. (involving a bobby hat) 

Brackets ranged from 5 star to Wild Cards including Boca Juniors, Braga and Ajax. (4 star) 

Week 1/2

The biggest games to discuss were Dortmund against Arsenal and Real Madrid. Very disappointing performance from the highly tipped Germans saw them suffer a 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal and a 4-0 inialation away at Real Madrid. (At evens to win the title at the end of the season)

2 from Xavi Alonso, an absolute masterclass.

Surprise packages 

Borussia Mönchengladbach picked up a decent point away at Ajax, a possibility the team will achieve Europa League at the end of the season along with a decent run in the cup.

S.C Braga

A great point at home to Juventus in what seemed to be a one sided game. Can the Juventus manager adapt the team to play 4 at the back or risk the 3, Italian style defending. Is he the right man for the job?

Athletico Madrid

Turned over Bayern Munich at the Allianz arena 2-0. The usually efficient Germans couldn't handle Diego Costa. A possible outsider for the golden boot if Athletico are to achieve a top 4 finish. 

SD

IMDB Overview

This isn't just another blog on whether Shawshank Redemption is the best film ever made seen as it tops the IMDB list.

It is though in my opinion.

I was having a quick scan yesterday over the latest trailers/top 250/bottom 100.

Another disappointing Amazing Spider-man film will soon be upon us and it looks just as bad as the first one. Marvel should have cut their losses and left the already successful franchise alone. However, they didn't. Not to criticise Andrew Garfield's performance in the first one as I was a fan of his role in the social network but at the end of the day he is no Tobey Maguire. 

Also, after the disappointing villain of a big ass fucking lizard in the first one, the second villain looks just as bad.

Only time will tell how catastrophically bad it will be.

Top 250

After a quick scan, there seems to be a lack of films made after the millennium in the list. There is the stand out two of the Dark Knight and Inception that both sit in the top 15 although. Surprisingly The Dark Knight Rises sits one place above Django Unchained and wrongly so in my eyes. (Django, by far the best film of 2012)

Wall-E also sits above Toy Story 3 in the list, hit me hard that one.

Bottom 100

I discovered a film called The Tony Blair Witch project rated 2/10. A mocumentary 

on The Blair Witch Project. The description reads 'Told in Documentary form, the film depicts a group of five British film critics and politicians who venture off into the West Virginian wilderness in search of the "Tony Blair Witch" which may or may not be related to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. -- IMDb Plot: The Tony Blair Witch Project (2000)' 

I really must watch it at some point to see how bad it actually is.

SD