The Champions Emerge
Manchester United have rightfully claimed the Premiership and the Champions League. Without a shadow of a doubt one can now say that United have been the best team of the year, and Cristiano Ronaldo, the best player of the year.
What an astounding difference between the ball-hogging-but-going-nowhere 18 year old that first arrived at Old Trafford to the goal scoring machine that is Ronaldo today. I will put my hand up and say that I absolutely loathed him the first few seasons. Trying to beat six defenders with a run instead of taking the sensible easy pass. I still hate that Ronaldo. This is not the same man. He has transformed into a great. Rumours say that Real Madrid offered Man U 100 million euro for Cristiano. I wouldn't let him go for double that.
Chelsea had no answers the entire game to his marauding runs down the left, which I must say was a brilliant move by Ferguson. I didn’t know if it would take when I saw it come up but Cristiano didn’t skip a beat, he just took advantage of Essien’s inexperience in the position and as a result wrecked havoc all night, not to mention the goal.
Textbook header. Absolutely unstoppable. But one has to feel a true right back might have made a better effort for the ball then Essien did. He was still going towards the ball with no hope of getting it when Ronaldo was going up. Hang back, play the man even, if you have the top goal scorer in all competitions opposite you, watch him, he might have an idea when to leap.
You must remember, I sit here writing this whilst wearing a jersey bearing the United emblem, but still, how unlucky were Man U to concede in the first place? A double deflection lands in the path of Lampard, who doesn’t have to do much as van Der Sar had already fallen over. Great finishing, and I guess, I would’ve rather seen the game we saw that a 1-0 win to the Red Devils.
And on to the penalty shoot-out. If Cristiano’s header was textbook, his penalty was anything but. At least he’s teaching the kids. The perfect example why balk penalties don’t work. You give the keeper too much time to read you and a quality keeper like Cech isn’t going to dive until you hit the ball. You walk up. Pick your corner. Bury it. Simple in theory, maybe a little harder in practise.
One has to feel for John Terry. Only a little but, let’s not get melodramatic. For a captain to miss the fifth penalty to win the game, well I cannot fathom a worse situation. At the start of the shoot-out, if you were to pick two players to miss, I don’t think anybody would’ve chosen Ronaldo and Terry.
It’s a funny, brilliant game football. You can’t just call yourself a hero after one move, you have to do the right thing the whole game, which can be 120 minutes plus. If you don’t, you can, and will be punished. But that’s why we keep coming back. To see the heroes. To watch pure emotion on people’s faces at the end of games. The contrast between winning and losing, ecstasy and despair. Bring on Euro 2008. It’s not just a game, it’s much more important than that.
What an astounding difference between the ball-hogging-but-going-nowhere 18 year old that first arrived at Old Trafford to the goal scoring machine that is Ronaldo today. I will put my hand up and say that I absolutely loathed him the first few seasons. Trying to beat six defenders with a run instead of taking the sensible easy pass. I still hate that Ronaldo. This is not the same man. He has transformed into a great. Rumours say that Real Madrid offered Man U 100 million euro for Cristiano. I wouldn't let him go for double that.
Chelsea had no answers the entire game to his marauding runs down the left, which I must say was a brilliant move by Ferguson. I didn’t know if it would take when I saw it come up but Cristiano didn’t skip a beat, he just took advantage of Essien’s inexperience in the position and as a result wrecked havoc all night, not to mention the goal.
Textbook header. Absolutely unstoppable. But one has to feel a true right back might have made a better effort for the ball then Essien did. He was still going towards the ball with no hope of getting it when Ronaldo was going up. Hang back, play the man even, if you have the top goal scorer in all competitions opposite you, watch him, he might have an idea when to leap.
You must remember, I sit here writing this whilst wearing a jersey bearing the United emblem, but still, how unlucky were Man U to concede in the first place? A double deflection lands in the path of Lampard, who doesn’t have to do much as van Der Sar had already fallen over. Great finishing, and I guess, I would’ve rather seen the game we saw that a 1-0 win to the Red Devils.
And on to the penalty shoot-out. If Cristiano’s header was textbook, his penalty was anything but. At least he’s teaching the kids. The perfect example why balk penalties don’t work. You give the keeper too much time to read you and a quality keeper like Cech isn’t going to dive until you hit the ball. You walk up. Pick your corner. Bury it. Simple in theory, maybe a little harder in practise.
One has to feel for John Terry. Only a little but, let’s not get melodramatic. For a captain to miss the fifth penalty to win the game, well I cannot fathom a worse situation. At the start of the shoot-out, if you were to pick two players to miss, I don’t think anybody would’ve chosen Ronaldo and Terry.
It’s a funny, brilliant game football. You can’t just call yourself a hero after one move, you have to do the right thing the whole game, which can be 120 minutes plus. If you don’t, you can, and will be punished. But that’s why we keep coming back. To see the heroes. To watch pure emotion on people’s faces at the end of games. The contrast between winning and losing, ecstasy and despair. Bring on Euro 2008. It’s not just a game, it’s much more important than that.
