Internationals, oh well

Another boring week on schedule has come with United's players blown all over the world for pointless international games. This isn't much of an article, so if you already know everything about our players on international duties, you don't have to read it. It's just an information for those ones who don't.

John O'Shea has travelled to Germany with his national team, this game is a bit of mystery since I can see Irish boys taking away 1 point from this difficult ground, but Germans remain favourites to win it.

Ryan Giggs will begin his another attempt to take Welsh side to the major competition in Czech Republic, facing team that vastly disappointed their fans at the World Cup. Should Wales get 1 point in that game, they would put themselves in a good position before following games.

Cristiano Ronaldo has already played for Portugal side that lost 4-2 to Denmark yesterday, with our star missing a penalty. First in his life probably, as before yesterday he had scored plenty of decent goals from 12 yards.

Wayne Rooney will miss another international game due to spastic decision of some cunts that rated his attack on Carvalho as deliberate. No surprise there, the whole world seems to be against Rooney nowadays, even FA banned him for nothing because they felt obligated to.

Louis Saha will most likely not play for French team because Domenech feels he's not as good as Sylvain Wiltord. Mikael Silvestre and Patrice Evra aren't even in team, because Jean-Alain Boumsong is more solid in Domenech's humble opinion.

Rio Ferdinand broke his toe during Watford tie, so he won't play against massive Andorra side today. He will be replaced by the other United player, Wes Brown, who somehow didn't manage to convince Eriksson to his abilities. Gary Neville will miss the same game with injury, while Michael Carrick, Kieran Richardson and Ben Foster have all been given tickets to watch it from the bench.

Darren Fletcher will face Faroe Islands in game that will most likely be played until first goal is scored.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's come-back could be seen as a massive boost for Norway, team that have been a constant failure for years, despite producing a couple of decent talents.

Nemanja Vidic is included in Serbia side despite injury which shows how important part of their team he is. He won't play against Azerbaijan today, actually he's not much needed in that game since Azerbaijan aren't an offensive side. He could play in Poland coming Wednesday though, I'm looking forward to that game.

Not much of your interest I reckon, but I'd also like to add that my national team faces Finland today in what's going to be possibly the most boring game of all times.

Good luck to all of our players and hopefully they won't come back with injuries. That final bit refers mostly to Saha, stay fit Louis!

Why blame Fergie?

It's been now 23 hours since transfer window closed to eventually open again in January and the majority of fans is yet to get over the fact that we didn't sign two world class midfielders during Summer and got Michael Carrick as the only midfield reinforcement.

First of all, that was David Gill who promised United fans that two world class midfielders would join our team. Sir Alex Ferguson never made such comments, only thing he said before Carrick's arrival was that he was content with squad and would be happy to go into the new season without any new player.

In fact, even this comment caused a lot of fuss and it shouldn't have. What do some fans exactly expect from our manager in such moments? Should he go public and openly say that he is short of options and can't imagine starting new season with no significant strengthening? And what would be the purpose of such act, because it would surely lower team spirit and I can't see any positives coming out from that.

Just put yourself in John O'Shea's of Darren Fletcher's position. They work hard, they give us everything they have, they attend every training and cause absolutely no problem to manager. Moreover, first of them has done very well for us when called upon to play in various areas of the pitch, why has he been constantly slaughtered for that? Some things just can't be understood, there are some people surrounding me who have no clue about supporting their teams and it really concerns me. They expect our manager to blame his players, belittle them by saying to press that they aren't good enough.

Sir Alex Ferguson has received far too much of stick so far, most of them coming from either children who have no clue about his past or gloryhunters who just can't stand that their team isn't as successful as it used to be. They can't get over fact that league is moving forward and understandably rivals are going to cause more problems to United, who led Premiership standard upwards for many years of 90s and 21st century.

Fergie has signed a midfielder in Carrick, he possibly overpaid but who is going to criticise him for that if Carrick turns out to be successful? Sometimes you have to pay over the odds to gather players you want. Was Rooney worth 27 million the day we signed him? Was Ronaldo, unknown 18-year old from Portugal worth 12 million? No, they weren't, but there was no other way to get them and Fergie knew that without this duo, United wouldn't be going into right direction. That's why you should give Carrick time to settle and adjust to United's gamestyle. It should occur quicker than you would think, because he's already played in Premiership.

All this frenzy over ball-winner is understandable to some extent, but it becomes crazy when people say that Fergie screwed up in Mascherano's case, simply because that player couldn't have signed for us. MSI is a business company run by wise people who know that after year of Premiership experience their players could be worth twice of current price, that's why they put them at West Ham and set 90% sell-on clause in their contracts. Would have United agreed for such conditions? Obviously not.

Hargreaves was not for sale either, not due to any brilliance that sticks in him because he clearly isn't a player worth 17 million, but because Bayern didn't want to sell him. They created self-dignity in their minds that didn't allow them to offload their player to United, even though he could be replaced easily for half of money United offered them.

Marcos Senna's deal was a mystery. He was so close to signing for United and then pushed into sideline, because United wanted to bring Hargreaves. Was it because AIG or Glazers forbid United to sign foreigners, or was it because Hargreaves was a more concrete option, we will never find out.

But at the end of the day, Fergie decided not to sign anyone after failure in Hargreaves' pursuit occured. So maybe he's got a different concept, maybe he really thinks that Carrick and Scholes in midfield are enough?

And at top of everything, wouldn't it be more appropriate to judge United's signings and their suitability at the end of the season, when everything will be clear rather than write them off before they have their runs?

Think over United fan, if you ever had a go at Ferguson. You owe him so much that even if you think that he's acting ridiculously in the transfer market, you should trust him and believe that he has his concept of game.

But he clearly hasn't been acting ridiculously in the transfer market. All of our signing throughout the last two years have turned out to be successful, haven't they? If they haven't, then point me out one signing that was pointless? Was it Alan Smith at 6.7 million? Heinze at 6.9 million? Rooney at 27 million? Edwin van der Sar at 2 million? Ji-Sung Park at 4 million? Nemanja Vidic at 7 million? Or maybe Patrice Evra, who seems to have settled well recently, at 5 million? And what I like most about this players is that they all show real desire to play for United, don't moan about sitting on the bench when it's necessary. Generally, I think that all of our current players have loyalty second to none, even Ronaldo who was so keen on a move to Madrid has recently said that United were his dream club. Team spirit is high at the moment and it's heart-warming for me because when I recall 1999 squad, first thing that comes into my mind is that they formed a very special unit, that gave us extra edge over the rest.

Building new United is going into right direction and our squad would be complete with one more defensive midfielder. But there's no rush, he could be signed in January or next year, we're fine with what we have and can get by easily. As long as we play well without him and are going to get a right one in the near future, I'm fine with our transfer activity. It takes some time to gather right players together but at the end of the day it's worthwhile.

Quality over quantity anyday.

Transfer window outcome upsets United fans, but should it?

Fifteen hours after transfer window has closed, United fans are still in disbelief over its outcome. Being promised two world class midfielders, they will have to last more than half of a season with only Michael Carrick and second choice golkeeper who will most likely never make it into first team. Many of United's faithful don't believe in maintaining title challenge anymore, despite hundred percent start to a new season. But were they right to have lost last bit of faith?

After Roy Keane's departure David Gill officially confirmed that club was seeking a replacement and promised to buy at least one world class midfielder. Moreover, he clarified that in January arrival of a new midfielder was impossible due to fact that newcomers were playing in Champions League with their teams. Deals looked all but done, the only question for fans was whether it will be Diarra or some other Riquelme. Then, month before World Cup the same man said that club were looking forward to tying deals for those players before World Cup, so that new signings would have time to gel with current players.

First concerns among fans appeared when World Cup began and United were still without any new faces and only one confirmed bid, for Michael Carrick who hardly met description of promised world class midfielder. First explosion came when Fergie announced that he would be happy with no signings at all. Africa tournee, Gill's holiday, it all pushed some fans to the edge, but at last, at the end of July Manchester United confirmed arrival of Michael Carrick. The same day Carrick was presented, Ferguson openly said that club was about to seal deal for one or two more players, one of them being a hard-working midfielder.

Last day was hilarious with plenty of United faithful sitting in front of computers or TVs waiting for transfer news that didn't appear till midnight. Some of them still can't believe that United didn't sign a defensive midfielder that would've been a last piece of jigsaw.

But is the world going to end for United fans? Have their dreams collapsed along with transfer window's end?

Not necessarily. United are the only Premiership team that could boast of hundred percent start, and even though it's only three games from the beginning,it shows that players aren't as bad as some people make them out to be.

John O'Shea has done very well in midfield since Alan Smith broke his leg, while Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick are both established and respected Premiership players. Darren Fletcher has also improved and will become better and better surely, now that he got someone to learn from in Michael Carrick. That gives United four viable options in midfield with a few young players coming through the ranks.

Bear in mind, United fan, that your team's strength sticks in your offensive force and even Ruud van Nistelrooy's departure hasn't weakened it. Often in the past United used to dominate game in midfield but lacked killer's instinct, which led to being unable to score a goal. As start of current and finish of previous season have shown, that problem doesn't exist anymore. Given an opportunity to score, Louis Saha and Wayne Rooney seldom waste it. And their chances are certainly going to come with two most effective wingers of the league and amazing passer of the ball in Michael Carrick.

Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are the brightest prospects of modern football, while Rio Ferdinand is regarded as one of top defenders around the world. Nemanja Vidic and Patrice attracted interest of host of European clubs, while Gabriel Heinze found himself at Fabio Capello's wish-list. Ji-Sung Park was a key member of PSV team that challenged AC Milan in Champions League, while Michael Carrick was so important for Tottenham that they failed to produce a good performance without him. Edwin van der Sar has already won Champions League, played in major competition and faced almost every better striker in the world. Is that really such a bad collection of players that United's transfer activity over last years could be called a failure?

United's finish to last season was very promising. In 2006 United have gathered more points than any other team so far, and all of them were gathered without Carrick's contribution. With proven Premiership midfielder and high team spirit, Manchester United players are capable of maintaining their good form, because if they do so, even Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal reinforcements might not be enough to end United title hopes.

Because it's score that matters at the end of the day, not names on team board nor fame they've earned so far.