PAUL SCHOLES HANGS BOOT

I salute one of the greatest ever midfielder to grace the beautiful game of football. '18' Scholes as I like to call him, is a legend that left a mark at United and in football history as a whole. The midfielder spent the whole of his career at Manchester United.Born in 16 November 1974 at Hope Hospital in Salford, Greater Manchester, to parents Stewart and Marina Scholes, the veteran midfielder played cricket and football while in school.He first trained with Man U at age 14 after being scouted in school. He scored 3 goals in his first 2 games for Manchester United and went on to score 7 goals in the 1994/95 season. He made 675 appearances for united and scored 150 goals in all.He also made 66 appearances for the English national team and scored 14 goals in all. Despite the persuasion and calls over the last few years, Scholes declined to play for the national team again. He last played for England in 2004.He cannot be listed amongst the disciplined players in football as he received 90 yellow and 4 red cards in the Premier League, making him the third most booked player in Premier League history.He also been booked 32 times in the Champions League, more than any other player in the competition.

Scholes sits comfortably at the centre of a 4-4-2 formation playing a pivot role for the team.He will be remembered for his brilliant display of short and long passes and smooth ball distribution.He cordinated the midfield and controlled the game play for United even until the end of his career.Although he did not enjoy all the playing time lately,he always had a great impact whenever he was introduced. Scholes who started as a forward was deployed to the '10' role by Ferguson where he formed great partnership with Roy Keane. The most recent of his goals which remains fresh in my memory was the strike against Barcelona in 2008 at the tenth minute.The strike seperated both teams and took united into the finals where they
defeated Chelsea in Moscow.

Scholes had a great number of strikes from outside the box though this reduced towards the end of his career. Carrick paired Scholes in the midfield when he arrived United and at this time, Scholes did a of work in the team playing both as a 10 and a 4 as the duo exchanged roles regularly. His brilliant performances contributed to United's league success that season.

Honours


Carling Cup : 2006, 2009, 2010

Champions League : 1999, 2008

Community Shield : 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010

FA Cup : 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004

FIFA Club World Cup : 2000, 2009

Premier League : 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009 (Manchester United)

Paul Scholes will take on a coaching role with United from the start of next season.He is one of the best midfielders ever in football history.

All hail PAUL '18' SCHOLES!!!

A NIGHT AT WEMBLEY

I sit here remembering every moment of last night's game. It was an action-packed match that I  would always want to watch again and again. The line-ups for both teams were the anticipated ones.
Man U-Van Der Saar,Fabio,Ferdinand,Vidic,Evra,Valencia,Park,Carrick,Giggs,
Rooney and Chicharito


Barcelona-Valdes,Alves,Mascherano,Pique,Abidal,Xavi,Busquets,Iniesta,Pedro,Villa and Messi.

United started the game on the high as is their usual practice. A few decent attacks before they handed the game over to Barcelona. Park, Vidic and Ferdinand were up for the game and intercepting passes and breaking Barcelona attacks. At about 23', United started attacking again. They got carried away attacking and Barcelona got a good attack on with three men ahead of Xavi when he advanced with the ball for the opening goal. This number threw united defenders into confusion and lost knowledge of who each should mark. A true pass to Pedro resulted in a goal with a good touch from the striker. United again attacked and just 7 minutes after, scored the equaliser through Wayne Rooney even though Giggs appeared to be in an offside position when he picked the initial pass from Rooney. Nonetheless, the striker finished the ball well.

*Both sides were level at half time*

The second half was when Barca did justice to the game. They started out attacking and overwhelmed Man U. It was good enough that Man U did not run after Barca but waited to close them down. But the question remains: 'How long can you hold Barca?' Iniesta took a lot of time before passing the ball to Messi. Lionel picked the ball and was quick to push forward before taking the final strike for the second goal. To me, it was a combination of the 'bush baby'(Iniesta) and the 'evil spirit'(Messi).

David Villa found it difficult to get behind United's defenders so instead he stood in front of them and made shot attempts for every ball he got. These attempts paid off when he sent home the third goal that put both hands on the trophy for Barca. Van Der Saar made a number of good saves but was not enough to keep the catalunyans from carrying the day.

OBSERVATIONS
**Chicharito had no real impact in the game and that leaves me wondering why Sir Alex started him.From my point of view,I expected Nani,Fletcher,Oshea or Scholes would have started.

**Evra was always tending towards the centre to assist in breaking the dangerous attacks of Barcelona and in the process, freed his man.

**Unexpectedly,Villa started from the right side and Pedro from the left. The first goal came when the two players swapped position.

**The three goals for Barcelona was shared among the strikers which was a clear indication that the midfielders did a wonderful job last night.

**I expected Giggs to play in front of Carrick and Park while Rooney drifted to the left flank thereby providing width and drive to the United side.

**Finally, was I the only one who saw Fergie's hands shaking?...lol

The question remains, WHO WILL STOP BARCELONA?!!!