Checking in with our lads at Old Trafford today, Wayne Rooney has set a goal for his goals this season. He wants to beat his 20 nets from last season, especially since everyone is looking to him to earn the majority of them since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure.
Over the last two seasons, Ronaldo scored 68 goals for the team, which equals out to 30% of the team's overall total goals. That leaves a huge gap of goals to be made up. Between Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Federico Macheda, and others that have already been scoring in preseason, as long as they can keep up and step up their streaks…the team should be able to fill that gap.
Wayne told ManUtd.com, "There are a lot of great players in our team and we know if we all work together then we’re capable of achieving great things."
The team is on their way to Munich for the Audi cup where they will play Boca Juniors and Bayern Munich or AC Milan.
Rooney said, "You want more difficult games as pre-season progresses and I think the matches in Germany will be a really good test for the team. We're still a couple of games off peak performance and from a personal point of view there's still a bit of work to do."
Rooney might be referring to his missed attempts at finding the back of the net during the second half of the second Malaysia game. He was trying very hard to score but it just wasn't meant to be. Otherwise, on this Asian friendly tour, he's really been scoring very well…just like we know he can.
Rio Ferdinand had high praise for Jonny Evans as the defender stayed on at Old Trafford even after receiving offers from Sunderland, where he most likely would have had more guaranteed time on the pitch. Some advice from Ferdinand could have helped him stick to his guns and keep the red jersey on his back.
"He's a fantastic young player," Rio Ferdinand told the Press Association. "For centre-halves it's always difficult to see the best of them at early ages. There's always a chance of them making mistakes but Jonny keeps that to a minimum."
"I spoke to him in pre-season last year in South Africa," Rio said. "He was at a stage where he wanted to play every week. He'd been doing that the season before at Sunderland and he didn't want to come back and play for the Reserves again. He wanted to play first-team football.
"It's the same argument for any young player: Do you want to go and play for mid-table team or do you want to be in the squad of a team where you're going to get chances to play in a title-winning or European Cup-winning team?
"When you look at it like that it's a bit of a no-brainer. The manager didn't want to let him go anyway, but I think Jonny came round to thinking that it was better to be a part of the squad and play when the opportunities came."
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
He's Bringing Seven Back...
So Michael Owen has been handed number seven. Ok, that's a surprise. I love Michael Owen. We all know I've been a huge supporter of his and I will continue to be so long as he doesn't let me down. But number seven? Wow…Sir Alex is either expecting greatness from him, or we're all placing too much importance on the jersey. I'm thinking it's probably both. I have faith Michael Owen is going to deliver AND I think we're placing too much importance on the number.
George Best wore number seven. We all know the saying, "Maradona good, Pele` better, George Best." 'Nuff said.
Eric Cantona wore the jersey. King Eric won back to back titles, player of the year, and who could ever forget that notorious kick?
David Beckham was number seven for a long time. Part of Manchester United's Treble, European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year. One of the most famous number seven's for Manchester United thanks to great publicity and fantastic management. If he retires from the game, he'll have modeling and cologne to fall back on.
Most recently, Cristiano Ronaldo wore the jersey. He had a record setting season in 07/08 with 42 goals. That's now ingrained in Old Trafford's history as legendary.
In between George Best and Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson wore the jersey. "Captain Marvel" was the longest reigning captain in Old Trafford's history. He's back at the club today as an ambassador. I can't help but think he must have had some sort of say in giving his blessing for Michael Owen to take the threads this time around. Would Sir Alex Ferguson has consulted Bryan Robson regarding the number? Some of us thought perhaps there would be a switch off similar to what Beckham did when Teddy Sheringham took the number ten and he took number seven. We were thinking that perhaps Rooney would give his number ten jersey to a new, incoming player and then be handed number seven.
What if we're all just making too big of a deal out of the jersey? Maybe we shouldn't be putting so much stock into the number or the shirt and just consider the man inside the clothes. What's important is how they play the game when they wear the colors no matter what number they are. Their behavior off the pitch is important, too. Representing the club with dignity and class will go a long way. Other number sevens have had trouble off the pitch with that. Think of what killed Best, his alcoholism. Cantona's temper wasn't even off the pitch when he kicked the fan and caused a commotion. Michael Owen is a solid family man and he has style. He'll be able to make Manchester United look good off the field and when he's on it, I firmly believe there are better days ahead for him.
I've said it before and I'm saying it again, I'm not writing this man off. He has had injuries but they all have. Some of his unfortunately, have come close together.
Maybe by giving Michael Owen number seven, Sir Alex is making a promise to the fans that he also knows this player has better days ahead. SAF has that ability to spot and cultivate talent, why shouldn't we believe he can do it in a man beyond his twenties?
Let's get over our initial shock at Owen's being handed the shirt and stop looking back at who's had it before him. Why don't we try looking ahead to what he can do for our team? Have faith in Sir Alex's decisions and give Michael Owen our support. He's part of our team now, he is Manchester United.
This post appears in one of the blogs for which I am paid to write.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Torchwood: Children of Earth ~ The Finale
The miniseries wrap up of Torchwood: Children of Earth was certainly worth the wait! The four nights prior did a great job of building up suspense and sympathy for the characters. The storylines were shocking at times and the parallels to our own modern day dilemmas could not go unnoticed.
When the aliens were demanding that a tenth of the world's population of children be surrendered to them, or they would wipe out our entire species, the leaders involved in the negotiations had to make a choice as to how they could select which one tenth of the population would go. Then, they would have to come up with a story line that the public would believe. Supposedly, children would be collected for inoculations, when they would really be collected and handed over to the aliens. The brash eliteness of the situation came to a full head when one of the women in the leadership summit admitted that no one was going to send in the children who one day would become doctors and judges but instead, they needed to send in the kids that were already on the path to prison. She said that placement tests are exactly for that reason, aren't they? Take the lowest ten percent of the test scores and send them to the aliens. The admission of such elitism was so shocking and yet, so true. And in this case completely excusable because the situation is one of fantasy and science fiction.
The senselessness of having to sacrifice so many lives was beginning to wear on everyone, especially on John Frobrischer, the civil servant who had been working hardest at devising plans, negotiating with the aliens and taking all of the heat on behalf of the Prime Minister. Then, the Prime Minister tells Frobisher he has to go on TV and show his own daughters being turned over for "inoculation," as it would be good publicity. At first, Frobisher says, "but there is no inoculation…we're just giving them a fake inoculation, right?" The Prime Minister tells him that, no…Frobisher's daughters are to get the real inoculation…they're to be turned over to the aliens. We really hate the Prime Minister, even more than ever.
Frobisher goes to his secretary, Bridget Spears and tells her a code word, which stuns her and makes her robotically go to an evidence type room and sign out a box from a guard. Bridget turns it over to Frobisher, he kisses her on the cheek and he leaves. Bridget remains stunned. The next scenes were handled beautifully though they were completely shocking TV and not for the weak of stomach, so you might not want to read on if you can't handle the worst that a parent can do to his children in order to save them. Bridget goes to see Lois in jail and says that she wants to tell Lois that no matter what she hears about John Frobisher over the next coming days, Bridget wants Lois to know what a good man John Frobisher had always been. While Bridget speaks, the scene is of him going home and sending his wife and girls up stairs. There is an army outside ready to "inoculate" his two daughters. He opens the box his secretary had requisitioned for him and it has a gun inside. He goes up the stairs, into the girls' bedroom and shuts the door. We hear four shots. He has saved his daughters from being "inoculated." His wife will never know the pain of seeing her babies turned over to aliens and he will never live the rest of his life feeling like a failure because he didn't stand up to the Prime Minister to save his children.
Back at Thames House, one of the generals speaks with the alien in the tank and asks why they need the children, do they keep them alive? The alien says something like, "no. They release a chemical, it feels good. The chemicals feel good." The general then says, "it's like drugs? The children are drugs to you?" Suddenly, they realize – it's a drug war. One side is more powerful than the other. Unfortunately, it's the side that wants the drugs and is willing to kill everyone in their way to get the drugs.
When we compare it to our own lives and our own world today, it really is the "lower test scores" set of people that do the fighting and the dying in the drug wars. Chemicals that "feel good" create a demand with a price so high that people are willing to pay anything for them. Lives are lost because chemicals make someone that has more money or power feel good. Whether it's from the high of the chemical or the money and power it brings, on this planet now, there are people much like that alien in the tank demanding that a number of lives be sacrificed for their own pleasure. Russell T. Davies knew what he was doing when he wrote this script! What a commentary!
I haven't even gotten to how Captain Jack (John Barrowman) saves the day. He's finally released from his holding cell from the woman who put him there, Johnson. He figures out how to reverse the alien's signal by sending it back through the children just as they had been broadcasting through the children. In order to do so, they need one child to be the conductor but that child would "be fried" from all of the current going through him. The only child in the vicinity is Jack's own grandson, so it's a case of sacrificing one to save millions. He makes the decision, and they lock his daughter out of the hangar where they are working. They set up the boy to act as the conductor. Sure enough, the plan works and it blows up the alien in the tank and the aliens in the sky disappear. The boy is dead afterward and John Frobisher has killed his family and himself for nothing, but the alien threat is gone. The "alien drug war" is over.
The end of the show jumps ahead seven months when Gwen and Rhys are driving out to a field in the middle of nowhere to meet Jack. Gwen had been able to retrieve his arm band transmitter from the hub because it is indestructible. Jack tells her that he has traveled the world but the planet has suddenly become too small for him. He can't stay, he activates the arm band and a passing ship in the sky beams in aboard. Now, he's back out in the universe.
When the aliens were demanding that a tenth of the world's population of children be surrendered to them, or they would wipe out our entire species, the leaders involved in the negotiations had to make a choice as to how they could select which one tenth of the population would go. Then, they would have to come up with a story line that the public would believe. Supposedly, children would be collected for inoculations, when they would really be collected and handed over to the aliens. The brash eliteness of the situation came to a full head when one of the women in the leadership summit admitted that no one was going to send in the children who one day would become doctors and judges but instead, they needed to send in the kids that were already on the path to prison. She said that placement tests are exactly for that reason, aren't they? Take the lowest ten percent of the test scores and send them to the aliens. The admission of such elitism was so shocking and yet, so true. And in this case completely excusable because the situation is one of fantasy and science fiction.
The senselessness of having to sacrifice so many lives was beginning to wear on everyone, especially on John Frobrischer, the civil servant who had been working hardest at devising plans, negotiating with the aliens and taking all of the heat on behalf of the Prime Minister. Then, the Prime Minister tells Frobisher he has to go on TV and show his own daughters being turned over for "inoculation," as it would be good publicity. At first, Frobisher says, "but there is no inoculation…we're just giving them a fake inoculation, right?" The Prime Minister tells him that, no…Frobisher's daughters are to get the real inoculation…they're to be turned over to the aliens. We really hate the Prime Minister, even more than ever.
Frobisher goes to his secretary, Bridget Spears and tells her a code word, which stuns her and makes her robotically go to an evidence type room and sign out a box from a guard. Bridget turns it over to Frobisher, he kisses her on the cheek and he leaves. Bridget remains stunned. The next scenes were handled beautifully though they were completely shocking TV and not for the weak of stomach, so you might not want to read on if you can't handle the worst that a parent can do to his children in order to save them. Bridget goes to see Lois in jail and says that she wants to tell Lois that no matter what she hears about John Frobisher over the next coming days, Bridget wants Lois to know what a good man John Frobisher had always been. While Bridget speaks, the scene is of him going home and sending his wife and girls up stairs. There is an army outside ready to "inoculate" his two daughters. He opens the box his secretary had requisitioned for him and it has a gun inside. He goes up the stairs, into the girls' bedroom and shuts the door. We hear four shots. He has saved his daughters from being "inoculated." His wife will never know the pain of seeing her babies turned over to aliens and he will never live the rest of his life feeling like a failure because he didn't stand up to the Prime Minister to save his children.
Back at Thames House, one of the generals speaks with the alien in the tank and asks why they need the children, do they keep them alive? The alien says something like, "no. They release a chemical, it feels good. The chemicals feel good." The general then says, "it's like drugs? The children are drugs to you?" Suddenly, they realize – it's a drug war. One side is more powerful than the other. Unfortunately, it's the side that wants the drugs and is willing to kill everyone in their way to get the drugs.
When we compare it to our own lives and our own world today, it really is the "lower test scores" set of people that do the fighting and the dying in the drug wars. Chemicals that "feel good" create a demand with a price so high that people are willing to pay anything for them. Lives are lost because chemicals make someone that has more money or power feel good. Whether it's from the high of the chemical or the money and power it brings, on this planet now, there are people much like that alien in the tank demanding that a number of lives be sacrificed for their own pleasure. Russell T. Davies knew what he was doing when he wrote this script! What a commentary!
I haven't even gotten to how Captain Jack (John Barrowman) saves the day. He's finally released from his holding cell from the woman who put him there, Johnson. He figures out how to reverse the alien's signal by sending it back through the children just as they had been broadcasting through the children. In order to do so, they need one child to be the conductor but that child would "be fried" from all of the current going through him. The only child in the vicinity is Jack's own grandson, so it's a case of sacrificing one to save millions. He makes the decision, and they lock his daughter out of the hangar where they are working. They set up the boy to act as the conductor. Sure enough, the plan works and it blows up the alien in the tank and the aliens in the sky disappear. The boy is dead afterward and John Frobisher has killed his family and himself for nothing, but the alien threat is gone. The "alien drug war" is over.
The end of the show jumps ahead seven months when Gwen and Rhys are driving out to a field in the middle of nowhere to meet Jack. Gwen had been able to retrieve his arm band transmitter from the hub because it is indestructible. Jack tells her that he has traveled the world but the planet has suddenly become too small for him. He can't stay, he activates the arm band and a passing ship in the sky beams in aboard. Now, he's back out in the universe.
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