Glory to United -- The Premiership League Title 2012 -13

It is about time to write about football—enough on Cricket , even though Gayle made that wonderful 175 this week ( unbelievable hitting in such a short time at the crease , poor Pune Warriors).


Manchester United won the Premiership for 2012-13 with four games yet to be played ( total of 20 teams , each playing one another twice , so 38 matches through the season ).For Sir Alex the manager at the helm from 1986 , it was his thirteenth title with the club.

It was not that easy as it looks at the end—title with four matches yet to be played. Last year ManU was leading the table at the same stage but somehow slipped in the last five matches and Manchester City caught up with them on points and won the title on Goal Difference.
But this year thanks to inconsistent display by ManC , and them losing the last match meant the title would slip away from them and numerically they cannot catch up ManU on points.

Key to success this year , I thought were the following

1. Buying of Robin Van Persie from Arsenal – What a move it was . Persie delivered , becoming ManU’s leading goal scorer. It was one of those Magic moves by Sir Alex. ( do not care what the Gunners have to say on this )
2. Away wins with Chelsea , ManC, Liverpool and Arsenal . These were important wins and contributed not only to the points but were a great morale boosters. Away wins are not easy. They set the tone for the season.
3. Scoring more goals than any other team in the league.
4. Did not concede one penalty through the season (Is that not amazing ? )
5. Clever use of players – Javier Hernandez probably has the best conversion in terms of minutes on field to goal scored – Was used as a substitute and the Chicharito invariably found the net for the short time he was on the pitch.
Players like Ryan Giggs who are still with the club and keep scoring and keep feeding assists for goals ( In the last match against Villa , Giggs was in terrific form.
Bringing back Paul Scholes from retirement ( not sure if this one clicked all times )
6. Spending and buying players – I think this is where Sir Alex scores – No overspending on big names but everyone in the team is a jewel for the role they play.
7. Continuing to play Mind games—Sir Alex is so good at these and does it before every important game
8. Fewer injuries and a fit team for most of the season

Overall ManU might still rue that they could have brought in more Silverware this year. They should have won against Real Madrid at home ( Championship League ) but it was  just not their day. And losing the  re match against Chelsea in the FA cup would hurt as well.

A tough season but as usual consistency of clever strategy coming up triumphs again.
To a ManU fan , a great result.