"Look at Nani - his free kick goes right into the wall, again!"
It's been all doom and gloom for Liverpool over the past few weeks - the losses keep mounting, as do the injuries - and the club finds itself in its most precarious state in years.
On the other hand, Chelsea are being touted as "Champions" before we've even hit December, and with over six months of football still to be played, it seems as if journalists, bloggers, and pundits alike are claiming that The Blues have what it takes to win it all. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to the first 'Groan in Brief', a look at recent events that may or may not have anything to do with Arsenal the focus of these pieces will be on any current football stories that I feel like commenting on. Expect the FA, FIFA, UEFA and Jamie Redknapp to be regular targets of ridicule.

The international break seems like a good time to start, given that there's no Arsenal news filtering through, at least until the matches themselves leave the whole squad crippled, so let's get on with it.

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Last week, I asked you to vote for you favourite 20 players of the decade, here in this very post, are the Top 100 players of the last 10 years, voted for by you, the readers and bloggers of the offside. First thing I want to say is thank you, everyone for the absolutely amazing response [...] Click to continue reading...

On this day 23 years ago, a certain Alexander Chapman Ferguson was appointed as the manager at Manchester United. Today Sir Alex is the most decorated manager in British football history.

His tactical genius, inspirational personality and tremendous focus have put him in a league above others.

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Roughly a quarter of the way into the new season and the Big Four have experiences vastly contrasting fortunes. We have a look at them...

Chelsea

Won five from five, on a great run currently, Drogba firing, Lampard re-finding his goalscoring touch, defence shored up.

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In the midst of the Alonso summer saga, I posted the results from different midfield pairings. Lucas/Mascherano's line looked like this:
6 wins, 4 draws
2-0 West Brom, 3-0 West Ham, 4-1 United, 1-1 City, 1-1 Wigan, 0-0 Stoke, 5-1 Newcastle, 3-1 PSV [4-4-2], 0-0 Fulham [4-4-2], 2-1 Marseille
Let's ignore the PSV and Fulham games because of the 4-4-2 formation in Gerrard's absence (and Torres' against PSV). Click to continue reading...

Yes the ref was lousy, but don't let that mask what was a terrible performance across the pitch by what could only bee described as a toothless United team at Anfield on Sunday. The final score of 2 – 0 didn't flatter the home team as they notched up their third win in a row between the local rivals.

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Here's 10 things you wouldn't have known about Liverpool-United matches till you saw today's. Well, you might still not know some of them, but you'd at least suspect them.

1. Rafa's good at Math. He knows that if United are the champions above everyone else, and he beats United, then he's the champion.

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Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Mascherano Lucas
Benayoun Kuyt Aurelio
Torres
Goals:
Torres 65'
Ngog 90+6'
His armband proved he was a Red, Torres, Torres
‘You'll Never Walk Alone' it said, Torres, Torres
We bought the lad from sunny Spain
He gets the ball and scores again
Fernando Torres, Liverpool's number nine
Magic. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool:

-Reina
Johnson-Carragher-Agger-Insua
Mascherano Lucas -
Benayoun Aurelio
-Kuyt -
Torres -

Bench: Cavalieri, Voronin, Babel, Ngog, Spearing, Degen, Skrtel

Manchester United:

Van der Sar
O'Shea Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Valencia Carrick Scholes Giggs
Berbatov Rooney

Bench: Foster, Neville, Owen, Anderson, Nani, Fabio Da Silva, Jonathan Evans

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Today Man United face German Champion's Wolfsburg at Old Trafford in the Champions League. Tonight's game could be a cracker, both teams like to attack and we could see plenty of goals.
Man United kicked off their Champion's League campaign with a 1-0 win over Besiktas in Istanbul. Click to continue reading...

Man United midfielder Paul Scholes is 34-years old but he turns 35 next month. Over recent years he has only scored a few goals, but the ones he has scored have been vital for the club. Scholes...
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Man United midfielder Paul Scholes is 34-years old but he turns 35 next month. Over recent years he has only scored a few goals, but the ones he has scored have been vital for the club.
Scholes has said that he is trying to rediscover his goal scoring form so he is spending more time on the training field. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United face Barnsley away in the next round of the League Cup, which is good news for all of us who have been dragged in to the automatic cup scheme in order to apply for away tickets!

United last faced Barnsley in the 97-98 season, where we thrashed them 7-0 in the league, thanks to goals from Cole, Giggs, Scholes and Poborsky, but then were knocked out of the FA Cup by them.

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Having edged into the fourth round of the Carling Cup, albeit with an ultimately monotonous performance, the Premier League returns for United on Saturday and a somewhat tricky trip to the Britannia Stadium awaits.

Stoke have started the season in a pretty decent fashion having picked up seven points already and been extremely unfortunate not to have come away with something more last weekend against Bolton and previously against Chelsea too.

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Seven goals, seven minutes of added time, seven players from the Big Four in the team of the week. Yes, the big boys claimed back their rightful place at the top of the Premier League table last week, the pretenders of Manchester City & Tottenham slotted firmly into their place. Wins for Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool & Arsenal meant it was a good week for the star names, as well as a few lesser ones too.

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Sir Alex Ferguson made a few changes to tonight's line-up, picking a team which was capable of picking up the points, whilst making sure we have enough fresh players for derby day at the weekend. Gary Neville started in place of John O'Shea, Jonny Evans for Rio Ferdinand, whilst Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs were also given a rest.

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"VIDEO: Scholes Scores Winner Against Besiktas" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Before beginning the gruesome business of the post-mortem I think it's worth doffing my cap towards Man Utd – they were a quality act yesterday. I demonstrated in my preview that mathematics is hardly the academic subject of choice at AANP Towers, but nevertheless it really did seem that being reduced to 10 men made them play as if they had 12.

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Is it just me or are the ManUre becoming increasingly brutal in their efforts not to allow their crown to slip?
It seems that the reduction in their 'pretty' skills since the loss of Ronaldo has resulted in an increase in the use of the likes of Scholes, Fletcher and Vidic to elbow, push and kick their way through the opposition. Click to continue reading...

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United have released a list of their Champions' League squad members, and importantly, Owen Hargreaves is a part of it. The 25-man squad also includes Kiko Macheda, Gabriel Obertan and Darron Gibson. However, Anderson has been relegated to the secondary list of additional 10 members which includes Welbeck and Evans.

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Owen Hargreaves has been named in Manchester United's 25-man Champions League squad, as has new signing Obertan and plenty of youngsters, but there is no place for Zoran Tosic.

The Serbian winger featured heavily in our pre-season but hasn't played for United since the friendly at Old Trafford at the beginning of August.

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A defeat yes, but nothing to get too worried about.

A nugget from a source as unreliable as just about any other!

ARSENE WENGER is lining up a move for 15-year-old Serbian starlet Veljko Batrovic, likened by many to Lionel Messi.

The FK Bubamara teenager impressed the Arsenal boss during trials.

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So here we are then. With just� three competitive (if you prefer not to count the Community Shield as meaningful) games of the season played, we face our first big test in the shape of Arsenal.

While last season's meeting at Old Trafford in the Premier League was hardly of massive significance, tomorrow's encounter will certainly provide a decent benchmark to how we are shaping up in terms of our title credentials this campaign.

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Manchester United

Last Season: 1st, 28-6-4 (90 points, +44 goal differential)

Recent Form: WLW

Home Form (last season): 16-2-1

Last Meeting: Manchester United 0-Arsenal 0 (5/16/09)

Well, here we are, one of the biggest fixtures of the season.

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The Midfield Magician

Cast your mind back to May 2009, Manchester United were comprehensively and soundly trounced in Rome by a magical Barcelona side, inspired by Xavi and Iniesta. For many, the lack of quality in the centre of the park was plain to see, Carrick looked lethargic and unsure of himself, Fletcher was missed, this, a surprise in itself.

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Oh, to be a fly in the half time dressing room!

Whilst it's a god awful cliche whoever first coined the phrase "It's a game of two halves" (perhaps Jimmy Greaves?) was essentially describing perfectly what occurred at the newly named DW Stadium.

Sir Alex must have been fuming at the way we lacked that cutting edge, and have done for our first two matches, and as such must have given all concerned the hair dryer treatment at full force.

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Three straight league trophies in the competition rated the best in the world is a terrific success, even for a team of Manchester United's stature. Sir Alex Ferguson and his team definitely have to be congratulated for that but their domestic domination looks set to end this season.

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Elegant. Graceful. Patient. Methodical. If you could lineup your knuckles perfectly, would you knock out every single teeth in Berbatov's mouth? Or would you leave one individual front tooth hanging, a testament to the depths of your disdain?

Sir Alex fielded a slick-passing 4-4-2 against Birmingham, with Scholes and Fletcher providing muscle and Nani and Valencia as delegated flair specialists.

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Michael Owen scored twice while Ryan Giggs got asecond-half hat-trick as Manchester United to a pulverized Hangzhou Greentown 8-2 in China today. Nani and Zoran Tosic rounded off the scoring for United as they completed their 2009 Asian pre-season tour. Team line-ups United: Van der Sar (Foster, 45); Fabio, Evans, Ferdinand (Brown, 59), Evra; Nani, Scholes (Anderson, 59), [. Click to continue reading...

So, this is a bit belated, but it appears that Rodrigo Possebon has been loaned to Sporting Braga. The Portuguese side finished fifth in the Liga Sagres (thereby qualifying for the Euro League... or UEFA Cup... or whatever the hell it is that Arsenal will soon find themselves competing in).

The young Brazilian featured primarily in Carling Cup matches last season, and had his playing time further reduced by a rather nasty tackle from Boro's Emanuel Pogatetz.

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Manchester United began their preseason with a tour of Asia and two matches against the Malaysia XI (National Team). Here's a recap and video highlights of both matches.

Manchester United beats Malaysia XI 3-2 - Video Highlights - Man United took an early lead on goals from Wayen Rooney and Nani but had to rely on a Michael Owen goal to secure the victory.

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Malaysia XI 2-3 Manchester United

A 100,000 capacity saw Manchester United do the expected but some goalkeeping errors turned what looked like a comprehensive victory into a� game that was only minutes away from a draw.

Even though this match was scheduled some time back, when Ronaldo was still a United player, they did at least get to see the new no.

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