Just a few observations to make….

(1)   It’s the passing stupid! Every time Man United lose or play badly the passing is dreadful, and therein lays the causality. I don’t think there’s anything more frustrating than watching, not just professional footballers, but those who are supposedly at the peak of the game not be able to play a pass 10 yards in order to be able to start an attacking move. This has been a feature at United for the past few years now, and it’s even more frustrating considering how good the passing had been in the 5-0 wins against Wigan and Fulham, and even QPR and Wolves.

I’m not trying to take anything away from Newcastle here, of course their pressing was great tonight (particularly when compared to ours), but we made them look like they had 15 players between their defence and attack.

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The 2011/12 football season is revolutionary in more ways than one. Not only are we seeing the rise of the next great Manchester United team under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson, and not only is Joey “Nietzche” Barton now the captain of QPR, but this season represents the first in which football clubs finances come under the scrutiny of the much talked about UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFPR).

As you’d expect, FFPR is a subject that has thus far caused much discussion, controversy and confusion. Based on my jaunts to the pub and yonder, many good folk appear to understand what the general rules are (that, financially, clubs have to break-even), but beyond that their knowledge has been clouded by ignorant reporting and wishful thinking. Many City fans would have you believe that because of United’s Glazer induced debt, we have no chance of complying with FFPR, and many United fans would have you believe that, due to mass transfer expenditure by the Lottery Winners (City) in recent years, the Gorton Globetrotters too have little chance of complying with said regulation.

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Welcome to the ninth episode of the Red Dead Podcast, the super sexy Manchester United podcast for Truly Reds, brought to you as always by Tom “Darren Fletcher” Addison and Liam “Wrestlemania” Brown.

This week we try to cover United’s last three matches (and decide to skip one), lay into the retarded fans that ruined the Leeds game, get all Sigmund Freud and try to understand the “Cognitive Biases” that make football fans such plebs, and infiltrate fortress RAWK and discuss whether scousers, as some clame, invented the 4-2-3-1 formation.

In what will be a new weekly feature, we also take a trip down memory lane and revisit the youth team legend that was Philip Mulryne, and we announce our new mascot/man-crush for the coming season.

Comments, feedback and questions are greatly appreciated, you can contact us on reddeadpodcast@hotmail.co.uk 

Remember, you can also follow us, and Truly Reds, on Twitter: @TrulyReds @TomRDPodcast and @LiamRDPodcast

Join us again soon, where we’ll be dissecting United’s performance against Stoke and generally ranting like old men about all sorts of issues that are beyond our intellectual capacity.

And don’t forget, the 7th Annual Podcast Award nominations are now open! So go on, give us a nomination, you know you want to. Liam will strip for your next birthday if you do.

www.podcastawards.com

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Amidst all the drama that surrounded the Man United – Chelsea clash at Old Trafford last Sunday, is the least talked about and perhaps most significant outcome. A little reminder that despite Manchester City’s abyss of resources, Chelsea remains the number one threat to United rolling on to a 20th league title come next May.

With Arsenal constantly perfecting the art of self- destruction and hitting new lows of defensive ineptitude, and Liverpool’s revival ride on the Kenny Daglish wave hitting real snags, it is clear that the days of the “top four” are gone never mind what threatened to be the “top six”. It is now the ‘top three’ and will be for a few years to come. It is quite obvious that the Manchester City and Chelsea are the only sides with the squads and the quality to challenge Manchester United for the title this year. Read the full story

A day has gone by, 24 hours has lapsed and I have not got my mind around the big game last night (Singapore time zone) against Chelsea. What kind of a game was that? How can anyone properly describe that game? I am not sure whether to feel happy and proud at the result and the start we have made this season or to be disappointed with the performance and the chances missed. To sum it up perfectly, you can say I am left with mixed feelings even after 24 hours of the game. United players and the manager are already preparing for the Carling Cup match against old rivals, Leeds United but my thoughts are still with the Chelsea match. By the way, while you read this article I request you to accompany it with some mysterious sounding music ala the kind of background music from an Alfred Hitchcock movie because it is best for summing up the post-match feeling. Read the full story

Sir Alex Ferguson will be delighted after Manchester United were handed a relatively easy task for the group stages of the Champions League. The Premier League champions were pitted against Portuguese side Benfica, Swiss outfit Basel and Romanian newcomers Otelul Galati. Club chief executive David Gill believes that “Sir Alex will be happy with that. We’ve had great success in the last few years in the competition and we’re looking forward to it”  Gill said after the draw in Monaco.

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