Manchester United's Season and My Favorite EPL Team

With some of the world's best players going to Spain (actually just Real Madrid and Barcelona) instead of the English Premier League, it was not surprising that the quality on the field was not as wonderful as years past, though just as exciting, if not more.

My team, Manchester United, has over-achieved even though they only came in as number two - thanks to some poor managing at Arsenal and Liverpool. After losing our most valuable scorer, Ronaldo, without proper re-tooling, we only lost by one point to Chelshit (no, I am not going to act graceful and congratulate them). I was not upset to see CR9 leave but I was upset that we did not spend enough to replenish the team. Rooney and Fletcher were my MVPs and Evra was the most consistent throughout.

Here are my comments on some of our key players:
Van der Sar - still one of the best but if he had made one or two more saves against Bayern we'd be in the Champions League Final.
Neville - good in spots but was really too old. Can be a good backup next season.
Rafael - should be good as he gains more experience.
Ferdinand - disappointing by his own standard.
Vidic - still the best when not injured.
Evans - good but still raw.
Evra - excellent and most consistent.
Anderson - was he alive? Disappointing.
Fletcher - one of our best.
Carrick - very disappointing.
Park - could still run nonstop and contributed in certain situations.
Scholes - was, sadly, still our best playmaker but too old to be consistent.
Gibson - has a future here.
Valencia - effective on the right but need to score more.
Nani - became good in the 2nd half. Has a bright future here.
Giggs - no longer dominant because of his age.
Berbatov - very disappointing. Should be sold.
Rooney - our best player. We could be the league champion if he was not injured during our critical run-in.

My favorite EPL Team (4-4-2):
Tim Howard (Everton)
Darren Fletcher (Manchester United)
Michael Dawson (Tottenham)
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
Adam Johnson (Manchester City)
Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
James Milner (Aston Villa)
Gareth Bale (Tottenham)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
Manager: Roy Hodgson (Fulham)

Congratulations to Inter Milan

Congratulations to Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho for winning the Champions League and the treble! I am usually a Bayern fan (how can I not be when Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller are two of my all-time favorite players) but this time I was rooting for Inter. We witnessed one of the best managerial jobs in terms of team-building when Jose rebuilt the spine of the team by purchasing Lucio, Sneijder and Milito at the start of the season. Sprinkled that with key signings like Eto'o and Motta plus existing greats like Julio Cesar, Maicon and Zanetti and we are talking about the best team in Europe. The approach was in direct contrast with last year's champ, Barcelona, where they pride themselves in nurturing home-grown players.

This is my favorite European team (not including EPL players) - no surprises that it has quite a few Inter players:
Julio Cesar (Inter Milan, Brazil)
Maicon (Inter Milan, Brazil)
Walter Samuel (Inter Milan, Argentina)
Lucio (Inter Milan, Brazil)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, Holland)
Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan, Holland)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)
Diego Milito (Inter Milan, Argentina)
David Villa (Valencia, Spain)
Manager: Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan)