Manchester United: What The Hell Do We Do Now

Interesting Month For United

The thing that really gets me is if you forget the 7-1 drubbing at Manchester City's hands, it has been a quite outstanding month for Manchester United. OK, they are not top of the table anymore but they are most definitely still in the title hunt and indeed the Champions League hunt after a couple of brilliant wins.



With Sandro now just over a month away from being able to be selected again, you can not help but think that they will only get stronger this season now. Teams have poor results, the problem was it happened to be against there biggest rivals.

Manchester United have done awesome considering all the off the field problems they have been having.

Rodgers Verdict

Well, what a month! I have to say that we have had better, but have had a lot worse months too. This time last season we were third and Everton, who won it were in 5th place.

I am still not happy that my Daughter got attacked by fans from this very club, but it is not and will not drive me away. This last month started with a hard fought 1-1 draw with an impressive Wigan side. It was wonderful to see Steven score again after his injury and he has come back as if he had not even gone away.

We then destroyed Monaco 4-0! Robin and Kevin were magnificent then as Steven sat out, his replacement Jordan Rhodes set 2 of the goals up and is unfortunate not to have the Monaco own goal accredited to himself.

Then last season's champs Everton looked nowhere near as competitive this season, languishing down in mid table so when we won 3-0 and Morgan Schneiderlin got his long overdue first goal for United we thought we were in for a big month. Naismith and Eriksen got there other two. The Eriksen goal was the first for the club too.


Eriksen scored his first goal for United against The Toffees

We then lost to City and I will not talk about that as there has already been a lot about it in the papers and through the media.

Then was the big one because a win against Shakhtar put us through in the Champions League. I rested Van Persie for Bony and was told it was a silly decision, but Robin supported it and Wilfried took his chance well as we finally learnt how to defend again and he won us the game with a placed shot on the 30th minute to allow us to qualify for the next stage with a game to spare as Shakhtar and Monaco play each other.



We then defeated Sunderland 3-0 with Bony, Naismith and Van Persie, all starting and all scoring.

I would like to talk about the way the League table is different this year from last year now then.

This Season


Last Season


It is more spread out this season with 13 points covering the top 7 whereas last season there was 13 points covering the top 15 teams! Everton are having a shocker but we are one place better off this season in 2nd behind Chelsea, also one place better off. Newcastle have gone from top 7 to last place along with Palace who are 19th this season instead of 15th last season. The mid table teams with Villa, Stoke and Spurs are still there in around the same positions.

Draxler: I Need Some Loan Time

When Julian Draxler signed for United from Schalke for £36.5m at the beginning of last season it was seen as a coup for United but a season and a half later and only 12 appearances later Draxler still believes this is the club for him in the future and went to the media today to ask for some loan time.

Manchester United have a lot of talent for the attacking midfielder roles in Andros Townsend, Andriy Yarmolenko, Wellington Nem and Kevin Mirallas so a loan move could just be what United and Draxler could do with as Julian explained.

I love it here at United, I love training and being at one of the biggest clubs in the world but I also would love to play this season and maybe a loan move to another Premier League club or a big European club would give my chances a boost for first team football here next season. I do not want to leave, I just want to leave for now.

It seems clear that Julian knows what he wants so we called United for a reply and were given this one.

Manchester United as a club always deals with these sort of complaints in-house and when we decide what will be best for both the player and Manchester United we will let you know.

It does make perfect sense for a young player, with bags of talent to go out on loan. Look at Romelu Lukaku last season. He went on loan to Everton and helped them to a title. We will wait with baited breath to see what happens with Julian Draxler.

Champions League Draw

The first match is Portugese side Benfica against French side Paris St. Germain in the Second Round. The two sides last played each other in 2013 in the Champions League. That day PSG won 3-0 with goals from Ibrahimovic and Marquinos. Benfica got third place in the Portugese Premier League finishing behind Porto and Sporting. Benfica have no manager at the moment either but still have a strong squad but then so do PSG.
Prediction: 3-1 agg PSG



Man Utd face off against Barcelona and Wayne Rooney for the first time since he moved to the Spanish giants. There is no love loss between Rodgers and Rooney, so it is sure going to be a tough match. Barcelona won the title in Spain last season but this season are 10 points off Real Madrid in La Liga while Manchester United are doing a good job this season in third in the BPL.
Prediction: 2-1 Manchester United



Schalke play Monaco in what is going to be a very close tie. Monaco won the French title last season with some ease. Schalke finished third in the German League last season and both had good group performances with Monaco finishing second behind Man Utd and Schalke topping there group with Barcelona in.

Prediction: 2-0 Monaco



Lyon face off against Valencia in what on paper looks the weakest match in the round. Lyon were top of the group and Valencia got second place in there group. Valencia, who are cash strapped have somewhat fortunately got into the knockout round will definitely find Lyon too much in my experiance.

Prediction: 3-0 agg Lyon



In a very interesting tie Galatasaray play against Real Madrid in what is a potential for an upset of the odds. Galatasaray have been improving under manager Roberto Mancini and won the Turkish league last season. Real Madrid are top of the Spanish League and are 10 points clear at the top of the table but face a big problem in the Turkish team here.

Prediction: 1-0 shock result to Galatasaray



Last season's Premier League Champions Everton have a big tie against German Premier League Runners Up Bayern Munich. Everton have not been doing very well in the English Premier League this season but Bayern have been doing a lot better than there English counterparts so we think they will come out good.

Prediction: 3-0 agg Bayern



Dynamo Kyiv are the only Ukrainian side to qualify and play Group winners Dortmund in what should be a one sided match. Shakhtar are seen by many as the better side in Ukraine so the fact Kyiv qualified is seen as a shock. They finished second in the Ukraine High League last season but need some help if they are to beat a Dortmund side who are top of there league this season and seem one of the favourites to win this competition.

Prediction: 4-1 Dortmund on agg


Hannover, the shock side to make the Champions League in Germany qualified as group winners and will play the Danish Champions FC Kobenhavn who finished as runners up in a group containing debutantes Astra from Romania who almost qualified and the poor Ajax side. This tie could go anyway but we are going for a shock Danish victory.

Prediction: 2-1 Kobenhavn

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Real Madrid: We WILL Sign Van Persie

With Real Madrid elections on the horizon, you always get the 'promises' if they are elected and Florentino Perez wins, he has declared that he would sign Robin Van Persie at 'any cost'

When I get re-elected I WILL sign Robin Van Persie for Real Madrid. Robin is the Manchester United Captain but when Real Madrid want a player, we will go out and sign them at any cost. He is a fantastic player and will always score goals when needed. I believe he will want to get out of the shambles that is Manchester United and sign for us. We will be looking to spend no more than £17m for 31 year old.


Van Persie is a target for Madrid

The question now arises, would Manchester United sell Robin Van Persie? Well they have options available to them in Wilfried Bony, Wellington Nem and the promising Jordan Rhodes. It would make good business sense for United to sell there Captain and would be able to reinvest the money.

Van Persie also got asked about the press conference and did not reveal anything. I am flattered to be linked with a move to the Spanish Champions but my contract is with Manchester United and I am happy to play here while they want me.

To us Van Persie was most definitely leaving the door wide open, more of this story when we get it.

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