Ole, OIe Ole Oleee...

Loyal servant, classy striker, game-rescuer, versatile in attack, a gentleman of the game. Legend.

How often do you get a player who is some, let alone all, of these? All big clubs need a player that doesn't always play but give immense contribution more than proportionate to their playing time. Ole was such a player for Man Utd. This week, he decided that because of his knee injury it was right to call time on a glorious playing career that had won him fans from friend and foe.

Solskjaer's party piece was coming off the bench as a sub and scoring to either spark a comeback, secure a draw, clinch a win or cement one. According to Fergie, he had a knack for reading the game and understanding it while on the bench; this enabled him to devise some kind of plan to make an immediate impact on the game.

Ole came to Manchester United for a mere £1.5million. Despite all of his qualities, throughout his career at Man Utd, he only ever had a few seasons where he started regularly, but never complained about being on the bench. Ironically, because of his ability to change the game, Fergie considered him a better player as a substitute than as a starter, which might have done harm to his playing time.

Ole set the story of his career with his first game at Blackburn in the 96-97 season; scoring within 6 minutes of his introduction as a substitute to secure a draw. In the years to come, he would gain a reputation as one of the most feared finishers in the Premiership. Not for nothing was he nicknamed "The Baby-Faced Assassin", a title he professed to dislike; in Man Utd's Treble season, he scored a late winners against Liverpool in the FA Cup and Bayern Munich in the European Cup Final. Subsequently he would become more of a regular starter in the 2001-2003 yrs, helping United wrest back the Premier League crown in 02-03 after Arsenal had broken their hold a year before.

Happier times

In 2003, Ole would suffer a serious knee injury; its effect and recurrences kept him out for almost 3 years, until the 06/07 season. During this period of time, fans sang his name in the stands and a "20Legend" banner would often be seen flying high as fans showed their loyalty and support for one of the club's favorite sons. Their patience was rewarded in United's second league game of the 06-07 season where he scored in the 89th minute in an away game against Charlton.

They did not have to wait much longer for his first goal at Old Trafford since April 2003 against Liverpool. In true Ole fashion, Man Utd were tied 2-2 in a Champions League tie at Old Trafford. Who else but Solskjaer was on hand to bang in a Saha pass in the 91st minute to win the game.

Next was his first Premiership goal at home since the injury where he was in the right place to tuck in a Ronaldo belter that had rebounded off the post against Newcastle.

Who put the ball in the Scouser's net? - After coming on as a substitute (surprise, surprise) in Man Utd's 3rd round clash with Liverpool in the 98/99 season, Ole slots neatly into David James's near post in the 92nd (surprise, surprise) minute to send Old Trafford into bedlam

Ole was a complete forward who had a bit of everything, though most fans will immediately respond "finishing" when asked to name his greatest trait. Near post, far post, left foot, right foot, low sidefoots and close-range blasts, decent heading, long range curling efforts, and immaculate volleying from all sorts of wierd angles and contorted body shapes. Throw in a couple of bicycle kicks for good measure. Perhaps his most favored finish was the grasscutter which he would knock into the far post from acute angles with either foot, or those that he would slot low beside the keeper's foot or under him; the kind that makes you confused about whether to save with your feet while standing up, or fall backwards and save with your hands, and which you'll end up doing neither or attempting both but conceding because of the decision making time involved. His excellent control and first touch often got him past the last man, creating one-on-one situations for himself. On other occassions, he fooled defenders with his fakes and shimmys to set himself up for a shot.

Besides his skill in finishing, Ole had excellent movement and thus fit into United's attacking system perfectly. One of the reasons Fergie felt confident about selling Beckham was Solskjaer's versatility as a right winger. Ole had a great cross in him and offered different options from Beckham with his mobility. A great example would be his assist to Rooney in the Roma away Champions League match last season.

"Beckham... into Sheringham... and Solskjær has won it!"

Ole wheels away in celebration after scoring one of the most famous goals in Manchester United history -

a second injury-time goal to snatch victory from defeat against Bayern Munich in the European Cup Final of 1999

As a Utd fan, there are countless special memories in my heart, and Ole is involved in many of them; that unforgettable night in Barcelona; the four goals after coming on as a sub against Forest after Cole and Yorke had notched 2 apiece. Countless other important goals, most scored during injury time, that changed the result of the match. I remember choking abit when he celebrated with a simple bow and one-handed salute to the away fans after scoring against Charlton, and also with the winner against Celtic shortly after, this time with a more expressive celebration. The look on his face as he put 2 years of injury nightmare behind him said, "I've waited and bided my time. Now I'm back."

I found this comment on Guardian Unlimited's article on Solskjaer's retirement and I just had to put it in:

"If you were leading Man U 1-0 at your place with 20 minutes to go, Solskjaer's track suit would come off his number held up and there was a grim inevitability about what would happen next...... You knew it, your centre backs knew it, your goal keeper knew it, your manager knew it, what was worse the away fans in knew it. "

- Marwelldezueew
August 28, 2007 3:07 PM

***
Football 365's article:

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_2691204,00.html

Guardian Unlimited Blog's article:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/08/28/the_joy_of_six_solskjaer_momen.html

Puerta

Antonio Puerta passed away at age 22, following his collapse in the Sevilla - Getafe game. It is tragic indeed when football takes lives, it doesn't matter whether the person is a star or a squad player or a fan. According to reports, he is succeeded by his girlfriend who is expecting their son next month. I guess the only consolation is that, having experienced heart attacks before this during games, he knew that the risk was there, and he died playing the game he loved. Real Betis, being the cross town local derby death-rivals of Sevilla, have never been their best pals, but it was touching to hear that Betis Chairman Manuel Ruiz de Lopera was one of the first to offer his condolences. Football is perhaps not more important than life or death, but they are inextricably linked.

News Link:

Serie A short Summary

Aquilani Goal against Palermo:

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=1289012

Alessandro Rosina (Lazio vs Torino)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KsavuMo18Sc

The Juventus jersey, is, in my humble opinion, very ugly.

The Big Fuss about Form

**This is a post as a Man Utd supporter***

Its a funny old game isn't it? Two draws and a loss didn't worry me at all, but a 1-0 win over Spurs did.

Unlike the Man City game where Micah Richards and Richard Dunne were Men of the Match and Kasper Schmeichel led a charmed life in goal (mind you, he's Peter's son so I'll always be rooting for him on some level), Man Utd's chance creation rate looked a few shades poorer and, while again having much possession, created only a few real opportunities. With a central midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves, it got cramped occassionally and with only Tevez up front, United lacked penetration. While Nani showed occassional brilliance and a willingness to make tackles, he still looks like he needs to toughen up abit before he really gets into the rough-and-tumble mode that is the Premiership. Giggsy seems to be lacking that extra bit of pace to beat the top defenders and the space that Tevez found again and again at the Eastlands was missing at Old Trafford. If Fergie is to continue this 3-part midfield, I think Carrick needs to get a more advanced role around the edge of the area. Although he's more famed for his long passes, his short passes are sweet too and he possesses enough awareness to start a few attacks of his own; this will help against teams that hold back.


Hargreaves's performance impressed me again as it did at Eastlands and I can't wait to see him in a combative role against teams like Chelsea. I think we all miss the old Keane-Vieira battles and its great that we have a Keane-type player to start a new era of classic clashes; think Hargreaves-Gerrard, Hargreaves-Mikel or whatever.

The solitary goal of the game, a Nani piledriver, was decent enough, but my money was on Paul Robinson to save it were it not for Tevez's shoulder giving it a slight deflection. Even luck, perhaps, for the deflection on Geovanni's shot. Hopefully, Saha can return soon to provide more firepower upfront.

Berbatov didn't get his name on the scoresheet, but showed his class with a control-drag that befuddled Ferdinand and another defender who I couldnt see clearly(blame Sopcast) and followed it up with a curling effort inches wide of the top corner. This was preceded by a relaxed backheel to set up Robbie Keane who hit the crossbar in the first half with his own curling shot. Its always entertaining to watch certain players and I'm sure both Berbatov and Keane fall into that category.

******

Elsewhere, Juventus return comfortably to Serie A with a 5-1 win over Livorno. Looks like its back to business for them. Any bets on whether Juve need a season to recover, or will they bounce right back into it? Worthy recruits include Jorge Andrade and Vincenzo Iaquinta. No more runaway lead for Inter this season...

Inter Jerseys

Zlatan in Inter's new home jersey, complete with retro-style collar!









Yep, the away kit looks more like an England kit with its St. George's Cross. I think it looks great by itself, but somehow that effect isn't brought over to the pitch. Check out ol' Marco gek-king the say.

Anyhow, the reason for this unusual design is that it's Inter's Centennial Season, and the cross is actually from the crest of the city of Milan. The same one in AC Milan's and Alfa Romeo's crest.

Milan Crest

Reng-dom Ramblings

After some foruming-surfing, the general consensus is that Nani, unlike the 03/04 Cristiano Ronaldo, doesn't really require any beefing up....

I don't think I've seen a shutout in quite some time, and thanks to Van der Sar, I was marvelling at the beauty of it. I just hope the Charity Shield jinx doesnt strike Utd. As Charity Shields go, I thought it was a pretty exciting match (though I half suspect its the seasonal relative-lack-of-football-so-any-football-looks-good football). Utd had dozens of decent chances to score, but dogged defending + Cech' saves kept Chelsea in the game.

I've said it once and I'll say it again; Cech is a superhuman. He has everything it takes to be the best keeper in the world, assuming he isn't recognised as that already. He reminds me of a young Peter Schmeichel, albeit less wide, and less vocal. Less vocal not necessarily being a bad thing, because Schmeichel used to piss off the likes of Jaap Stam, Roy Keane and other defenders/centre-backs off with his own version of the Fergie Hairdryer. Both possessed incredible reflexes and world-class agility, despite having lanky frames(or in Schmeichel's case, gigantic). In fact, you could add Van der Sar to the list, then isolate Cech, because I think VDS and Schmeichel both had/have excellent distribution, whereas I've never seen Cech make an assist or anything. But one thing Cech has over them, is his concentration. Seriously, just think of the last time u saw Cech make a gaff. Can't remember? That's probably because you haven't seen him make one. The man is like a robot. I'm sure you can remember Schmeichel making howlers; last season VDS had a couple of clangers as well. But despite searching my memory I can't seem to recall Cech making one. In an interview Cech once said that he used to do pretty well at school because he had good concentration, and well, I seriously don't think he has any reason to lie.

Back to the match; considering Rooney played upfront, it was an excellent attacking performance, although Chelsea came out to attack as well and didn't adopt any suffocating defending. It's too early for me to rate any of their purchases, but Malouda, having gotten himself on the scoresheet with an excellent one-on-one finish, stands out. He actually outmuscled Rio Ferdinand while chasing a long ball(though Gum will laugh and say anyone in the Premier League, no make that Division 1, could do it as well) to get himself into a scoring position.

*Man Utd supporters, look out for Darron Gibson, another promising young talent from the youth ranks. He's a left footed central midfielder who can supposedly both defend and attack. Supporters who have watched him live claim that his attributes are his physique and passing. Having once captained the Republic of Ireland U-21 side, he's also been picked before by Steve Staunton for 1 or 2 of the first team's Euro qualifiers. Though with the current depth in midfield, it might be some time before we get to see him. Here's his goal against Doncaster Rovers.


Inter's new main jersey is out and looks retro! I love it, the classic collar is back. I'll post a pic up soon. Inter are back to their old ways, signing yet another left footed free kick taker to fill one of their position - Chivu. I would be interested to see him fight it out with Maxwell, Burdisso or Zanetti for left-back though, I recall that he was a very mobile player while at Roma. Though I would expect Mancio to partner him with Materazzi who's had an outstanding season.