All you need is luck

Today there's a little more on the Arsenal game, a new contract for Rio but no new contract for Ronaldo.

First off, continuing a theme from yesterday, we have this from Kevin McCarra which makes the usual tiresome argument about our ability to scrape results, which he admits is not a new argument. What he adds to the mix though is the stunning revelation that no team is unbeatable. What, really?

As it faltered, though, Arsène Wenger's side still highlighted the mortality of the supposed demi-gods of Old Trafford. Though the large squad has been a critical advantage for United over Arsenal, the visitors destroyed any notion that Ferguson's line-up is impregnable. There is strength in numbers but that does not make a side utterly unassailable.

Again we have the "we told you Arsenal didn't stand a chance - yet they matched Man Utd - how good are they? How bad United?". I'm not sure where the notion we were impregnable came from. I'm fairly sure that we've lost 4 games in the league. More than Arsenal and Chelsea. So we're impregnable?

United have been outstanding since they started to warm to their task in the autumn but that does not make them a side of a wholly different order from all others. Infallible line-ups are a figment of the imagination.

Oh. You spend the article making it sound like someone (you) believed in "infallible line-ups", just not ours, then at the end you tell us that actually they don't exist. Ummm, so why write this piece? Why bother explaining why we're not "infallible" when you don't believe it's even possible to be it? I wonder:

The jubilation at the close was all the more intense because United had reached their target on a wing and a prayer, rather than through effortless excellence. Victory was cobbled together. Ferguson will rather like that but it ought to deter the rest of us from assuming that they are really above the fray. Where might they be now if their squad had been as racked by injury as Chelsea's? The mere lack of Nemanja Vidic for two or three weeks suffices to make United queasy.

Despite the investment United will have to take nine points from the four remaining League games simply to equal last season's total.

I see. It's just so you can slag us off. Right. So we've reached the stage where the only way to have a go at us is to make some argument about some imaginary "infallible" football team and then slag us off for not being them. Good grief.

The Daily Star has a piece about our meetings with the other Big 2 (and Liverpool):

With the visit to Stamford Bridge looming a week on Saturday, United are unbeaten in five matches against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea this season.

They beat Liverpool twice, defeated Chelsea in Avram Grant’s first match in charge and drew with Arsenal at the Emirates before goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Owen Hargreaves gave them the points against the Gunners in Sunday’s big showdown.

A total of 13 points from a possible 15 against their three main rivals is a big improvement on recent seasons.

This story in The Guardian covers the contracts. Rio:

...it emerged that Rio Ferdinand had provisionally agreed a new contract.The contract is currently in the hands of his representatives and, until it has been signed off by lawyers, there will be no official announcement from Old Trafford, but it has been confirmed that it is close to being finalised.

Ronaldo:

United, however, have been bewildered by reports that Cristiano Ronaldo is to be rewarded for his exceptional form with another pay rise. Their leading scorer is only one year into a contract that lasts until 2012 and there are no plans to offer him a new deal. The club's usual policy is to wait until the player is two years from the end of his contract.

It also has some quotes in there from Sir Alex on the title "race" for good measure:

"I am not counting my chickens," he said. "I am not getting carried away as I know what football can do to you. My team is keen to do well and the players are showing great consistency. We never give up, which is a priceless quality to have. That's the kind of spirit we will need in our remaining games. Hopefully that will continue and we will win the league.

The Telegraph has an article on our "old guard":

His [Anderson's]performance in the 3-0 victory over Liverpool was a stark statement of intent and, although you can prove most things with statistics, the fact that he wins 87 per cent of his tackles is a figure even Keane would have taken pride in.

Midway through the second half of United's Champions League encounter in Lyon, there seemed a symbolic moment when Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who between them had won so many matches for Ferguson, were brought off for Nani and Carlos Tevez. When both substitutes combined to score what proved a precious equaliser at the Stade Gerland, it seemed we were witnessing another changing of the guard.

The Daily Mail suggests Real are going to wait a season before pouncing for Ronaldo:

Despite claims on a Madrid radio station that a 120million euro bid for Ronaldo was imminent, it is understood funds are currently in short supply at the Bernabeu and that Calderon is exploring ways of generating extra finance in readiness for a raid on Old Trafford in a year's time.

Final word to William Gallas who graciously accepts Arsenal's failings:

"You can play well, but if the luck is not there, then you will win nothing," Gallas said.

"The luck went from us a few months ago. People have to understand that."

We understand something...