The new United: Are we all getting carried away too soon?

A friend of mine, George (@GWoffer) , asked me to write a blog for his Football Water Cooler blog (@FootballWaterCo). It’s a blog site that is written for the fans, by the fans, and is well worth checking out if you have an interest in football. It was suggested to me, as a Manchester United fan, that I write a post considering whether United fans, along with the pundits and journalists, are getting carried away too soon after just four games.

Here is what I wrote (I tried to be as unbiased as possible)…

The new United: Are we all getting carried away too soon?

Four games in and much of the early hype has been about the new-look Manchester United and how they swept aside Arsenal at Old Trafford two weeks ago and Bolton at the Reebok yesterday. There is no doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson’s young team are looking the part at this stage but it is a long season and I’m not sure United have their 20^th title in the bag just yet.

What Sir Alex appears to have got right is getting his squad together early. The team that have started the Premier League campaign this season enjoyed a full tour of the United States together in the pre-season. In the US, the likes of Young, Cleverly and Wellbeck were able to learn the Manchester United philosophy of attacking, whilst Smalling and Jones got themselves accustomed to the United backline. The one weak link so far appears to be the Spaniard between the posts who has the potential to be the next Massimo Taibi (remember that calamity against Southampton!?). The jury is certainly still out on him. But the US tour meant that when United began their competitive season against Manchester City at Wembley they looked far more composed, comfortable and unified than their city rivals and this was encapsulated with Nani’s first goal after a great team move.



Sir Alex had his full squad whilst the other big teams were sweating over transfer deals on deadline day (Sneijder never looked likely from the outset). And four early wins, including an 8-2 demolition of Arsenal, sees the pundits and journalists already engraving Manchester United on the Premiership trophy. But… after a shaky opening game at the Reebok, Manchester City have four wins from four and a strike-force of Dzecko, Aguero and Silva who are all enjoying their football at City and scoring goals in the process. Questions will continue to be asked about Mancini and whether he has the ability to keep his very large and very talented squad happy. You feel that if the City boss can solve his selection dilemma and keep his team content then he might just be able to take the Premier League trophy to Eastlands.

Away from Manchester the other top contenders are looking far from threatening. Liverpool, who were tipped by many to be a real title challenger this season, have failed to impress thus far and suffered their first defeat yesterday to Stoke. Kenny Dalglish has spent a huge amount of money since January on players that would probably not make the first XI if they found themselves at City or United. After four games they are already five points behind the leaders and will need to do a lot more to impress. Tottenham have had a dreadful start to their season including a 5-1 thrashing at home to City and Harry Redknapp’s team seem to be a long way from the team that beat AC Milan in the San Siro in February. Redknapp will hope that the signings of Parker and Adebeyour will make the difference at White Hart Lane and they were pivotal in their win away at Wolves yesterday. As for Arsenal… we shall see! Chelsea, though, look the only other credible threat to challenge United and City and their new manager has an excellent set of players to mount his assault for the title.

As it stands it looks like a three horse race but it is only the beginning of September and there are a lot of games to play. One of the major factors marking United and City apart from their rivals at this stage is the number of goals they are scoring at home and away – both have goal differences in double figures already with Chelsea leading the rest of the pack with just four.

The question of this blog was whether we’re all getting carried away with this new Manchester United team. In reality the answer is yes – much can happen between now and May but with Wayne Rooney and his new hair getting back-to-back hat-tricks it is extremely difficult not to get carried away. City are posting big scores but the message from United every weekend seems to be; ‘anything you can do we can do better’.

For me, the most important dates to remember this season are 23 October (United v City at Old Trafford) and 28 April (City v United at Eastlands). This is where the title could be won or lost because both teams look unbeatable right now.
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9/11 Ten Years On

It is somewhat hard to comprehend that the 9/11 attacks took place 10 years ago. It will forever remain a moment in history when everyone can recall where they were on that day. I for one was mid-way through my Year 11 work-experience! Today, as 11^th September 2011 approaches – when we will mark the 10^th anniversary of those horrific attacks – we are once again bombarded with footage on our TV screens and images in the newspapers of the moment United Airlines Flight 175 smashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan. However many times you see it, it never gets any less shocking.

Over the past decade much has been written about 9/11 – I focused my undergraduate dissertation on it – and there is likely to be a lot more. Over the past week there have been numerous television shows across the terrestrial channels that have each illustrated a different perspective from 9/11. The pick of the bunch for me was the ITV documentary that aired on Thursday 1^st September. It covered the movements of President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Mayor Giuliani and other senior US Government officials. From watching those images it is clear to see that they were not prepared for those attacks; just as the world was not prepared for those attacks.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War there was a decade of relative global peace. Aside from the interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo and the threat of the IRA, Britain was not actively involved in conflict. 9/11 changed all that. Since 2001 the UK has been involved in long campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is yet unclear whether ground troops will find themselves patrolling the streets of Tripoli but the UK has been heavily involved, albeit diplomatically, in Libya and other uprisings during the ‘Arab Spring’. It is important to ensure that the lessons learnt from the past decade can be applied to any diplomatic or military action that the UK is involved with in the coming months and years.

The force of Al-Qaeda has been felt across the globe since 2001 with attacks in Bali, Mumbai, London and elsewhere. The threat level still remains high and it is unclear whether the death of Osama Bin Laden will have any effect on the future actions of the world-wide terrorist network.

Since that world-changing day in 2001 so much has happened: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; terrorist attacks in London, Bali and Mumbai; the killing of Osama Bin Laden; and the Arab Spring. I would like to invite you to join Generation 2 Generation and a panel of eminent speakers in London on 28 September to discuss the ramifications of those horrific attacks on 9/11. We'll discuss where we are now in the fight against global terrorism and how we can use the lessons from the past decade to make sure that the same mistakes aren't made in Libya, Syria and indeed, Afghanistan. For further information regarding this event please visit http://g2gglobalpolitics-eorg.eventbrite.com/

I welcome any comments and thoughts on this topic.

Generation 2 Generation is a non-partisan, not for profit organisation which organises talks and debates on current affairs for young professionals and students which feature leading figures from politics, business and the media. It aims to be a forum where today's leaders meet tomorrow's ones. Previous speakers who have addressed us include George Parker (Political Editor, The Financial Times), Liam Fox MP (Defence Secretary) Mary Dejevsky (former Washington and Moscow correspondent, The Independent), Lynne Featherstone (Equalities Minister) and Ed Vaizey (Culture Minister). You can find out more about us at www.g2gnetwork.co.uk.