As most people around the world, unwrapped their Christmas gifts and opened the boxes to see what is in store for them, there was a big box awaiting Manchester United at Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams. At the end of 90 minutes, United found out what Santa had given them for Christmas; 5 goals, 3 points, dropped points for our rivals and the helping hand from referee Phil Dowd in sending Wigan Athletic’s Conor Sammon off in the 40^th minute. Maybe with his belly, Phil Dowd probably thought that in the spirit of Christmas, he would assume the guise of Santa for the Old Trafford faithful. Read the full story

Manchester United exorcised the hoodoo of Craven Cottage in emphatic fashion yesterday with a 5-0 trashing of the home side. A very good result in the festive season that we are in, heading into Christmas. Ever since our exit from the Champions League, we have upped the ante with our performances and results. There’s no more of the laboured 1-0 wins in the aftermath of the humiliation by Manchester City but from experience of past seasons, I believe those laboured, gritty 1-0 wins are as appreciated as the 5-0 wins in the bigger picture of winning the Premier League title and they would make a return too if there is a need to because it is impossible for a team to play in the same way all the time in a league as competitive as the Premier League. Read the full story

4-1 is what the score board read at Old Trafford at the end of 90 minutes in Manchester United’s first game after the massive disappointment of the very early exit from the Champions League. Pre- game, I had called this match to be close as Wolverhampton Wanderers have run us close in our three encounters last season and even managed to beat us at Molinuex in the Premier League. It was close this season too but as the scoreline suggests it wasn’t too close and we could have scored more and win by a bigger margin. Read the full story

Two exits within the space of a week. That is the reality of the season so far for Manchester United; one that started so brightly with good, positive football that had us all purring and brimming with confidence and enthusiasm for the season ahead as we got goals after goals. Instead, we now stare at the unknown. The unknown comes in the shape of the Europa League, a competition we have not won in whatever guise it has been in and a competition we had not planned to play in. However, that is the reality that faces everyone at Manchester United; owners, manager, players and fans when we think of midweek European action for the rest of the season. Read the full story

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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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