The Three Rs...Romp, Retour, and Redtime

What a fantastic weekend for footy.

UNITED ROMP
My beloved Reds were in spectacular form this weekend...despite missing three of our regular back four, and our starting keeper.  Defense has become an issue for Sir Alex.  A back four that broke the record for minutes with a clean sheet has now been decimated by niggling injuries, from backstrain, to calfstrain.  But in true United fashion, our fearless leader called in the replacements and they hammered West Ham United 4-0.
It is staggering to think of Ryan Giggs still plowing the pitch like he did when he was 18.  Lightning-quick as ever and with a mind like a steel trap, the old fox can still teach the brash young upstarts a few things.  At 36, most footballers have the "former" attachment.  Not Giggsy.  His play is inspiring and the only betrayer to his age is the gray around the temples.  Imagine being a 20-year-old, and a man who has been playing in the Prem League longer than you've been alive just nutmegged you, crossed to Rooney, chased down the ricocheting shot, crossed again to a scrambling winger...who scores.  Youth is wasted on the young!

Oldtimer Scholes scores with thirty-somethings Brown and Giggs in tow

I voted on manutd.com for Valencia to be Man of the Match.  He has filled in where CR left off.  His pace down the wing and his smartly-timed crosses have given a lift to the "where did Ronny go?" Reds.  He is linking well with everyone and even scored a predatory goal yesterday.

Celebrating Valencia's goal

On an even higher note...C-Scum lost yesterday to Man Shotty, 2-1.  Reeling them in, we are.
For those who didn't see the Everton v Tottenham match today...WOW!  The Toffees were down 0-2 and charged back to level 2-2, when Tottenham were given a penalty in the 92nd minute.  *cue Western shootout music here*  Tottenham lined up their in-form hotshoe, Jermain DeFoe (who scored 5 goals in one match last weekend) against Everton keeper, Tim Howard.  Why is this news?  Well...Jermain is also the star striker for the English National Team, while Tim Howard is the keeper for the US National Team.  Both will be pitted against each other in the first match of the World Cup finals next summer.  The British papers have all-but-written off the US team's chances of beating The Three Lions.  Tim Howard put a damper on those plans today.  He saved the penalty and the point for Everton while sending a message to Fabio Capello...the US won't lie down for anyone!!!!!  Well-done, Tim! 

Howard saves a point for Everton...and sends a message to England

LES GIRONDINS RETOUR
Bordeaux returned (retour) to the top of the Ligue 1 table with an efficient 1-0 win over Paris-St. Germain.   PSG put everything into the match but the Bordeaux defense was too much for them.  Plasil scored early and they never looked back.  It was nice to see Gourcuff retour!  His partner-in-crime, Marouane Chamakh, has been left alone up front (which he has handled well), but their link-up play is deadly.  Neither will play in their Champions League yawner against Maccabi Haifa on Tuesday.  The Marine et Blanc qualified at the top of their group two matches ago, so manager Laurent Blanc decided to rest his two stars for next weekend's away match against perennial title-contender, Lyon (who lost 4-3 today to Lille).

Plasil (R) teams up with Tremoulinas (L) against PSG

A potential burr in Les Bordelais' plans...this week, Jean-Louis Triaud, the owner of les Girondins stated that mistakes had been made in trying to keep Marouane Chamakh in the Marine et Blanc.  His contract expires in June and offers were made by EPL teams (most notably, Arsenal) last summer.  Triaud rebuffed their advances, but not thinking about the January transfer window.  Now, Bordeaux is between a rock and a hard place.  If they don't sell him in January, then he would go for free in the summer to someone else.  That is a potential loss of around 10 million euros for the team.  But if they let him go in January, they are losing their leading scorer and one of the main reasons they have fared so well in the Champions League.  Chamakh has stated that he would love to play in the Prem League and his pay at Bordeaux is shockingly low for his level of play.  Triaud conceded that and Bordeaux have offered him a much-healthier package, including retroactive pay at his new price from last June to the present.  If Arsenal or another top team offer him money in January, I don't think Marouane will stick around.  But the only hitch to his flight to a top-four team in the EPL...he is cup-tied.  He wouldn't be able to play for a Champions League side in those matches because he's already played for Bordeaux in the same matches this year.  Arsenal are looking to replace Robin van Persie, who is out for five months...but Chamakh would not be able to replace him in the CL matches.  Soooo....the saga continues.

REDTIME FOR RONNY
Oops.  He sets up the first score, wins a penalty, misses the penalty...which a teammate picks up and scores, doesn't congratulate the teammate, ends up scoring his own goal, then promptly removes his shirt...which the official gives him a yellow card for, then kicks out at a player who touched him around the neck...which the official gives him another yellowcard for...and a big red card to go with it.  Whewwww!  Just another day in the life of Cristiano Ronaldo.  How Real Madrid managed to win 4-2 after being down 2-1 to a La Liga minnow is beyond me.  Their play is atrocious, just one step up from their defensive level...super atrocious.  It's well-documented on this blog that I am no fan of the Barca Loungers, but I don't see the Blancos getting any closer to them as the season progresses. 
Poor CR was working his arse off trying to make plays...at one point he's seen throwing his arms up in frustration because he put in a beautiful cross that no one jumped on...when he turned around I could see it in his eyes: "Rooney would have been there."  Yes, Cristiano, and so would have Giggsy, Berbatov, and just about everyone else on the United team who were telepathically-connected to your foot.  But...you don't play there anymore.  You now play with a bunch of disorganized plebes, led by a man who defended your red card because you "are passionate."  Yes, you're so passionate that you'll be sitting in the cheap seats while your team tries to stay ahead of the hard-charging Valencia in the league table.   CR did apologize for his transgressions and Pellegrini insisted that CR doesn't suffer from "lack of team support."  The Spanish press obviously doesn't buy that assessment, and Real defender Sergio Ramos countered with, "we all hope that Cristiano learns from this."  The Real fans have not bought in to the Ronny Project as of yet, and Saturday's display did nothing to help that.  His shirt sales are down 75 percent, and you could have heard a pin drop when he walked off the pitch after his red card...no applause.

A reminder to Ronny of what color he should be wearing...

CR matured so much at United.  In just a few months he has returned to his petulant, hands-in-the-air, theatrical best...and all for naught.  In my book that's called "lack of leadership."  Fergie would have rung his bell had he acted that way in Manchester.  It's obvious that the inmates are running the asylum at the Sanitarium de Bernabeu.  

Nice abs!  You'll be flexing them in the stands next week...

And one final parting shot to Tiger Woods...Elin should have blunted your head with that driver...