Why I'm looking forward to the end of FIFA World Cup '14?

It's that time again. People will be rooting for their favorite football team and then switching to the next one when the favorite team is out of the tournament. But here I'm - perhaps one of the few - who is more eager for this tournament to end. Why?

I'm a die-hard Manchester United fan since 1997. And if you follow the Barclays Premier League even via news channels, you must be aware that my team performed miserably in 2013-14 and so we sacked the manager before the season could even end. The manager, a certain Mr. David Moyes, converted the Champions of England into a mid-table team with such effectiveness that we started losing faith faster than Chelsea loses faith in its managers every now and then. All said and done, we finished 7th which meant no European football (Champions League/Europa League) for 2014-15. Sanity prevailed and the board appointed Louis Van Gaal (LVG), the current Netherlands manager, as manager for the coming season. LVG was formerly manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ and Bayern Munich and so started the transfer rumors. MUFC has been linked with almost all the players in the world, especially with players from the Dutch team and the Bayern Munich team.

Coming to the point, it has been disappointing, frustrating and irritating to get up every morning and reading about a new rumor online. So, I just want this World Cup to end which would mean LVG would take charge of things and quell the rumors once and for all with real signings and reinforce the hope which has built up in each United fan since he was appointed the manager - come 2014-15, Manchester United will be back with a bang.

P.S. India anyways doesn't qualify for the World Cup nor is it going to in the near future and I do not have an adopted country to root for as much as I root for Manchester United.

Is the Manchester Derby debacle the final nail in the coffin for David Moyes?

From Champions last season to a lowly 7th place in the table now, Manchester United are rotting from within. Manchester City did not beat United, they taught those on the pitch and on the bench, a lesson in 'how to play football'. The very fact that City did so without their star strikers Aguero and Negredo speaks volumes of our degradation under David Moyes. 

Let's face it, Moyes had no plan, as has been the case through the season against the Top four. I mean why else would he station Cleverley on the right wing. If at all he wanted to play 4-3-3 with wide men, why not start with Valencia and Januzaj but alas! Januzaj was not even on the bench. Why not just stick to the winning combination from the last game against West Ham? Why start Rio against the pace and slick passing of City? There are so many tactical blunders that I have run out of patience now. 

Every time I think things can't get worse, Moyes finds a way. First he declared Liverpool as favorites at Old Trafford and yesterday he went one step worse - he said 'City are playing at the sort of level we’re aspiring to'. The embarrassment of hearing a Manchester United manager say that is nonpareil. We can't continue to rot from within. The man did not have a clue after we were two goals down and continued sulking in his seat rather than barking orders from the touchline. I hope it's the final nail in his managerial coffin because the fans don't deserve to see more of this disaster. 

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing.

The last time Olympiakos beat Manchester United was in 2014 BC. What went wrong?

Considering the way this season has been for United, an upset was never out of the question but this was not even Milan or Zenit, this was Olympiakos and the last time Olympiakos beat MUFC was in 2014 BC. Exactly. Never.

So we are here to analyze what went wrong.

1. Team Selection: We played our best football of 2014 against Palace (I know that's not an achievement but nonetheless) and should have ideally stuck to the same squad. Instead, Moyes chose to bench Fellaini, not even pick Januzaj and played Young, Valencia and Cleverley, who, you will agree, are not fit for the United jersey, if you have seen them play this season.

2. Defensive lapses: Rio Ferdinand played worse than our U-19 defenders would have played in this situation and Chris Smalling kept slipping on the field. On top of that Patrice Evra was so busy going forward that at one point of time Rooney had to track all the way back to make a tackle. Due to them, an average looking Olympiakos attack (without striker Javier Saviola) was made to look menacing around the penalty area.

3. Wayne Rooney: He just failed to combine with RVP (who himself had a game to forget after missing that sitter), mustered just one shot in the game, had to drop alongside Carrick to pull the strings after Kagawa replaced Cleverley but all this to no avail. It just was not his night and it did not help that his teammates decided not to turn up for the match.

4. Why not make a 3rd substitution?: As in earlier games we lost this season, Moyes decided not to use all his substitutions and the two he did make were not entirely correct. He replaced Cleverley with Kagawa and Valencia with Welbeck which definitely added pace to the right wing as Welbeck made some great runs but it also meant that Rooney had to play DM which just did not work out. Here is what he could have done - he could have made 3 instead of 2 substitutions and replaced Cleverley with Fellaini, who had an excellent game against Palace, and Rooney with Kagawa, considering Rooney was way off his game.

All in all, a forgettable performance and I have only this to tell Moyes: get some courage and start taking some risk. You don't park the bus at Olympiakos as if they are Munich or Barca and definitely not leave out the most promising player this season (Januzaj). We don't sack managers after just one season, so you will survive the summer to build your own team but from whatever we have seen, we are disappointed with your tactics.

Have your say in the comments below.

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing.

"The most romantic club in the history of world football and that will never change"

I tripped and injured my right hand badly while coming back from the badminton court on Sunday night and then watched the 20 times champions Manchester United draw a match against the bottom placed Fulham 2-2 and I still don't know what hurt more - the injury or the match.

A team, which were champions last season, are playing worse than mid-table teams played last year. Top class defenders like Vidic and Evra are making amateurish mistakes, wingers like Valencia and Nani have lost their mojo, and even the super sub Chicharito has lost his killer instinct. Half the fans have called for the manager's head while the rest of the lot are divided between abusing (yet giving him a chance) and standing by the new manager (as Sir Alex had asked the fans).

But what hurt the most was the tactical blunder by Moyes in replacing Rafael (RB) with Valencia on the wings and then after getting the lead, deciding to park the bus with a 3-man defense out of which Vidic and Smalling were so off their game all night. And this was not the first time this type of blunder had been committed. Even in the match against Stoke, he had got on Hernandez instead of RVP instead of getting the in-form Januzaj for the out of form Young (who starts match after match despite doing little or nothing at all).

So what do I think? I'm still skeptical of the choice of Moyes as a manager (since he has never won anything ever in his career) but I believe in SAF and we have all seen the work Moyes did with Everton without funds/great players. You can always contradict by pointing at Everton's style of play this season under Martinez but then if United had managed to retain the lead against Cardiff, Southampton, and Fulham, they would have been at 47 points, same as Spurs and just 3 points off the 4th place. Anyways, let's not talk about ifs and buts; the fact is more than the midfield, we have lacked depth in defense and Moyes should have invested in a CB and a LB during the January window but still he got that marquee signing of Juan Mata who should be a key player in the years to come considering he is just 25.

So, let bygones be bygones and lets hope that Mata, RVP, Rooney, De Gea and Januzaj can help us finish top 6 because frankly 4th seems distant now especially with the way Liverpool have been playing. And when the summer comes, I expect Moyes to build 'his' squad by replacing the likes of Evra, Vidic, Rio, Cleverley, Nani, Young, Anderson and promoting Zaha, Powell, Lingard, Keane to the 1st team like he has done this season with Januzaj.

For the time being though, with away games to Arsenal, Liverpool and City before the end of March, I just hope that Fulham was the beginning of a new Manchester United (81 crosses, 79% possession) and we will add more finesse to the crossing and shooting with each new game and restore pride to the most romantic club in the history of world football (and that will never change).

Have your say in the comments below.

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing

Juan Mata - where would he fit in at Manchester United?

Since my last post "Manchester United - who to buy in the January window?", Manchester United has ignored everyone and bid £37 million for the Chelsea play-maker Juan Mata. He has flown to Carrington and is expected to join MUFC following a medical on Friday.

So, the question is where would he fit in? Does Moyes need another creative attacking midfielder who may struggle to adapt to the side when they already have one? Kagawa has already struggled to make a place for himself because when Wayne Rooney and RVP are fit, MUFC don't need a no. 10. Mata though, is a player way better than Kagawa and he had adapted to the rigours of the Premier League immediately on arrival at Chelsea. Mata can excel in a 4-3-3 as he proved under AVB as well as a 4-2-3-1 formation and considering United's current 4-4-2 formation has produced mostly defeats in 2014, a little freshness and variety won't be harmful for the rest of the season. Mata has been Player of the Year for the last two seasons at Chelsea and will be a more than welcome addition to United's depleted XI since the injuries to RVP and Rooney.

So, what are the options?
1. Mata could play on the right with Rooney playing in the no. 10 role and he could be given the license to drift in and link up with both Wazza and RVP. The Spaniard is perfectly two-footed, so he can come in and shoot on his left, or deliver crosses with his right foot.

2. In Rooney's absence or in the case Rooney leaves in the summer, Mata would be the perfect natural replacement for the creative no. 10 role. He can slice open defences with intricate passing, can shoot to score goals and dictate the attacking play of the team.

With Mata's arrival, a United midfield trio of Mata, Rooney and Janujaz with RVP upfront would be devastating and it would be just the spark required to turn around the season.

Have your say in the comments below.

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing.

Manchester United - who to buy in the January window?

Fellow Red Devils, lets be honest to ourselves. We're in dire straits. Out of the FA Cup; 1-2 behind in the Capital One Cup semi-finals with the second leg at home, where we have lost to minnows like WBA and Swansea; languishing at 7th place in the EPL table; injured squad on low morale; with a new manager who at the moment definitely doesn't know how to turn things around. We're in need of new blood and here are some realistic options for the January transfer window:

Left-back
Fabio Coentrao: The Portugese defender has made just 4 appearances this season and wants a way out to get more game time ahead of the World Cup. And with Baines or Luke Shaw most likely not available in January, Coentrao is the best available option.

Centre-back
Thomas Vermaelen: The Arsenal captain has made only 12 appearances across tournaments with an injury early in the season leading to Koscielny and Mertesacker being the preferred pairing for Arsene Wenger. The questions would be: Will he leave and will Arsenal sell again to United?

Dede: Cruzeiro defender Dede is considered one of the best central defenders playing in Brazil today and will cost around 12-15 million euros. We need to make a quick move because Chelsea have an interest too.

Midfield
Koke: The no. 1 target for the January window, he will definitely add the creativity which has been so lacking this season but he is very happy at Atletico and it will be very difficult to convince them to sell.

Everton Ribeiro: Ribeiro has more assists and has created more chances than any player in the Brazilian league this year. The Cruzeiro player believes he can fit in any part of the United midfield but will he be able to make a January move as Cruzeiro’s director of football Alexandre Mattos has made it clear that he won't sell unless a substantial sum is paid for the player. So United should pay whatever it takes to get him.

Herrera: The main target for the summer window will be a target again this window but paying the 31 million release clause is a little too much for a fallback option.
.
Have your say in the comments below.

Follow me @nileshsurana for regular updates on Manchester United, sports, technology and marketing.

An open letter to Wazza (a.k.a. Wayne Rooney)

Hi Wazza,

It was 61'; United were leading Swansea 2-0 but for me the match had just begun. You came on the field as a sub for the evergreen Ryan Giggs. And I was not disappointed because you provided the assists for the last two goals as we eventually would win 4-1. The second one especially was a masterpiece as you provided the perfect ball for Welbeck to chip it over Vorm. Then, I saw you not celebrating the goal and I was hurt because this meant the poster boy of United, the center of my United universe might actually leave.

I know being number two is not your cup of tea and that is where the problem lies. You don't want to leave but you can't bear to be overshadowed by a Ronaldo or a Berbatov or a RVP because you are someone who wants to be the best at whatever you do and you want to be the fans' no. 1 too. But Wazza, you are the best because even from a position which is not yours, you scored 12 premier league goals and provided the assists for even more. You put in all those hard hours in training, score important goals, provide the assists which help RVP become the leading scorer in the league, selflessly run up and down the pitch to help the defence and yet, when you are labelled the bad boy for asking to leave United, I'm hurt because the people don't understand it's tough being Wayne Rooney. Ever since you made your debut, the onus has been on you to carry the legacy forward. The Ronaldos have come, made a mark and have left but you have hung in there showing your loyalty to the club. You have been United's golden boy but all of a sudden when RVP became the no.1 and Moyes said that you are the backup option, I understood that you were bound to get hurt.

Just wanted to say we have always loved you, Wayne. Give us fans a chance, give the club a chance, and give yourself a last chance at United because there is no place better for you. You belong at the Theatre of Dreams and I hope Moyes finds a way to play both RVP and you upfront. If you leave this summer, I would know the reason but I'd wonder all that you could have achieved at United and thank you for all the memories including the stunning overhead kick against the noisy neighbors.

Thank you Wazza.

Sincerely,
A fan

The End of an Era

The 20th league title won, with 4 games to spare
the man never knew the meaning of fear
the chewing gum and the affable face
the fans love his style and grace
the season is over, and his time is done
but we will always be proud of the laurels he won
he leaves Old Trafford with a void too big to fill
for he is the one who taught Manchester United to go for the kill
next season, when the crowd returns
there will be a new coach and it will be a new dawn 
but more than that, it will mark the end of an era,
The era of Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson.