Wayne Rooney looks set to return to action on Monday night when United entertain Fulham. By that time the Reds could well be six points adrift of the pacemakers if Arsenal win at Aston Villa on Saturday night.
United have no new injury concerns and no doubting Rooney will replace the hopelessly out of sorts Louis Saha who could do little right in the win over Sporting Lisbon in midweek.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
'Transfer target' drops massive come and get me hint....
Despite the fact that the Red Devils are spoilt for choice in their midfield engine room at present, stories continue surface linking United with Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon who was of course in action at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
The Portuguese club are unhappy about Carlos Queiroz confirming the Reds interest, following on from that Ronaldo and Anderson have both added their weight behind a potential move to United next summer.
The player himself has done nothing to calm the waters by dropping a massive come and get me hint to the Reds when Veloso said "If a great offer came from England it would be impossible to turn it down, but for now my head is 100 per cent focussed on Sporting. Yet I'm not going to hide the fact that playing alongside Cristiano and Nani is one of my dreams."
United wouldn't have it all their own way if the player was available for transfer, as Real Madrid are among those who are said to be monitoring the situation.
The Portuguese club are unhappy about Carlos Queiroz confirming the Reds interest, following on from that Ronaldo and Anderson have both added their weight behind a potential move to United next summer.
The player himself has done nothing to calm the waters by dropping a massive come and get me hint to the Reds when Veloso said "If a great offer came from England it would be impossible to turn it down, but for now my head is 100 per cent focussed on Sporting. Yet I'm not going to hide the fact that playing alongside Cristiano and Nani is one of my dreams."
United wouldn't have it all their own way if the player was available for transfer, as Real Madrid are among those who are said to be monitoring the situation.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Unimpressive win secures group F, but doubts persist.....
United managed to secure a victory at the death of their Champions League tie with Sporting Lisbon at Old Trafford last night, but they were not impressive, especially in a lack-lustre first-half in which the visitors not only took the lead but were also the better side.
Right-back Abel opened the scoring early in the first half when he took Kuszczak by surprise when cutting in from the right flank and firing low and hard beyond the keeper at his near post. Not good at all.
Things could have been a lot worse though for United if Leidson's goal not long after the first hadn't been wiped out for offside, wrongly as replays later showed.
The Reds looked disjointed pretty much all over the park in that opening period, Ronaldo was trying to do too much and kept on losing the ball. Saha looks really out of sorts and rusty and as a team it simply wasn't happening.
It came as no surprise then that Fergie changed it at half-time taking off Fletcher and Nani for Tevez and Giggs. United were much better in that second half, the introduction of Tevez in particular gave the champions more power and pace going forward. One of the most impressive things about the Argentine is his tireless work-rate, he never gives up.
United were by far better side from that point onwards as the visitors tired visibly. There was only one moment of concern for the home team when Veloso who has been much linked to the Reds of late, turned quickly and fired goalwards in one movement from fully 25 yards and luckily for United his effort landed safely on the roof of the netting in front of the grateful Stretford End.
The Reds drew level on 61 minutes after excellent work by arguably United's best player on the night Patrice Evra, who had not for the first time won the ball and powered down the left flank, his ball into the box eventually landed at the feet of Saha who in turn laid it off to Ronaldo, his shot was deflected off a defender and then Tevez before finding the net. Evra was the man who should take all the plaudits for the goal for his trademark lung-busting run which led to the opening.
Saha was eventually replaced by Hargreaves on 79 minutes, the groans of the crowd were audible and getting louder each time the Frenchman lost the ball, which was pretty much every time he touched it, though he did play a part in the Reds first goal.
A draw would have been just about a fair result as the Reds didn't really create enough clear openings and Sporting's keeper pretty much dealt with everything that United could throw at him. That was until deep into injury time when Ronaldo took a free-kick from the edge of the box, the sheer power of the shot beat Rui Patricio all ends up and as United came away with the points.
Sporting will feel that they deserved at least a point and if not for the officials they may well have taken all of them.
United were not impressive on the night, perhaps most worrying of all was the mistake by the stand-in keeper and Saha who looks well and truly off the pace. Fergie needs all of his squad players to be on form for the remainder of the campaign and this is a concern, especially up front. United really are missing Wayne Rooney who is thankfully set to return next week. It cannot come soon enough.
Right-back Abel opened the scoring early in the first half when he took Kuszczak by surprise when cutting in from the right flank and firing low and hard beyond the keeper at his near post. Not good at all.
Things could have been a lot worse though for United if Leidson's goal not long after the first hadn't been wiped out for offside, wrongly as replays later showed.
The Reds looked disjointed pretty much all over the park in that opening period, Ronaldo was trying to do too much and kept on losing the ball. Saha looks really out of sorts and rusty and as a team it simply wasn't happening.
It came as no surprise then that Fergie changed it at half-time taking off Fletcher and Nani for Tevez and Giggs. United were much better in that second half, the introduction of Tevez in particular gave the champions more power and pace going forward. One of the most impressive things about the Argentine is his tireless work-rate, he never gives up.
United were by far better side from that point onwards as the visitors tired visibly. There was only one moment of concern for the home team when Veloso who has been much linked to the Reds of late, turned quickly and fired goalwards in one movement from fully 25 yards and luckily for United his effort landed safely on the roof of the netting in front of the grateful Stretford End.
The Reds drew level on 61 minutes after excellent work by arguably United's best player on the night Patrice Evra, who had not for the first time won the ball and powered down the left flank, his ball into the box eventually landed at the feet of Saha who in turn laid it off to Ronaldo, his shot was deflected off a defender and then Tevez before finding the net. Evra was the man who should take all the plaudits for the goal for his trademark lung-busting run which led to the opening.
Saha was eventually replaced by Hargreaves on 79 minutes, the groans of the crowd were audible and getting louder each time the Frenchman lost the ball, which was pretty much every time he touched it, though he did play a part in the Reds first goal.
A draw would have been just about a fair result as the Reds didn't really create enough clear openings and Sporting's keeper pretty much dealt with everything that United could throw at him. That was until deep into injury time when Ronaldo took a free-kick from the edge of the box, the sheer power of the shot beat Rui Patricio all ends up and as United came away with the points.
Sporting will feel that they deserved at least a point and if not for the officials they may well have taken all of them.
United were not impressive on the night, perhaps most worrying of all was the mistake by the stand-in keeper and Saha who looks well and truly off the pace. Fergie needs all of his squad players to be on form for the remainder of the campaign and this is a concern, especially up front. United really are missing Wayne Rooney who is thankfully set to return next week. It cannot come soon enough.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Fergie in a muddle as Reds are set to eyeball Sporting Lisbon transfer target number three..
Not for the first, or indeed the last time I suspect, Fergie was in something of a muddle during the press conference ahead of the Champions League tie with Sporting Lisbon.
The United manager spoke about Liverpool saying that they'd recovered and should qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. Go figure. Liverpool are third in their group and they have to play Porto at home and Marseille away, both are ahead of the scousers. Is that memory letting you down again Sir Alex?
Nonetheless Fergie has promised the fans that United will go out to try to win the game so that they finish top of group F.
Coming off the back of the Reds second league defeat of the season we United fans hope that the Reds will indeed turn on the style and quickly get back to winning ways. Which should happen.
You do wonder though if Fergie will be tempted to tinker again, do not rule it out as he has players who need games.
AS Roma can still finish top of the group if they win their next two games and United lose tonight. In truth it matters not a lot who wins the group. So there is an argument for Fergie using the next two Champions League games to give a few fringe players a game. What we don't want to see is the manager tinkering in league games as happened last weekend...
One player to look out for tonight is Brazilian striker Liédson da Silva Muniz, he could cause the Reds a few problems and of course Miguel Veloso who continues to be linked to United and a host of top European clubs including Real Madrid. The young Sporting midfield star will be on duty in what could turn out to be a very entertaining game and obviously tonight's tie will be another opportunity to run the rule over another reported Lisbon transfer target.
The United manager spoke about Liverpool saying that they'd recovered and should qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. Go figure. Liverpool are third in their group and they have to play Porto at home and Marseille away, both are ahead of the scousers. Is that memory letting you down again Sir Alex?
Nonetheless Fergie has promised the fans that United will go out to try to win the game so that they finish top of group F.
Coming off the back of the Reds second league defeat of the season we United fans hope that the Reds will indeed turn on the style and quickly get back to winning ways. Which should happen.
You do wonder though if Fergie will be tempted to tinker again, do not rule it out as he has players who need games.
AS Roma can still finish top of the group if they win their next two games and United lose tonight. In truth it matters not a lot who wins the group. So there is an argument for Fergie using the next two Champions League games to give a few fringe players a game. What we don't want to see is the manager tinkering in league games as happened last weekend...
One player to look out for tonight is Brazilian striker Liédson da Silva Muniz, he could cause the Reds a few problems and of course Miguel Veloso who continues to be linked to United and a host of top European clubs including Real Madrid. The young Sporting midfield star will be on duty in what could turn out to be a very entertaining game and obviously tonight's tie will be another opportunity to run the rule over another reported Lisbon transfer target.
Fergie, Mark Clattenburg and the FA: Time to bring officials to account?
So the FA are charging Fergie with misconduct for his half-time tirade at referee Mark 'Clanger' Clattenburg at the Reebok. It was only a few weeks ago that the same ref was 'rested' following an appalling display in the Merseyside derby when he missed two blatant penalties for Everton. In short the referee had a an absolute stinker on that day.
Against Bolton on Saturday Fergie's beef with the same official was that the home team had been over physical. There will be some who suspect that Fergie was in part trying to blame the referee by deflecting the media spotlight away from his own shortcomings regarding his team selection having left out Anderson.
On top of which we have been belatedly told that Ronaldo who wasn't included in the squad which faced the Trotters because he was suffering with a minor muscle injury. Though this news only surfaced after the defeat so there has to be some element of doubt about the validity of the injury.
Even if we had been told that Ronaldo was injured prior to the game, Fergie has a record of tinkering with his teams down the years against supposedly weaker opposition. Thankfully, and this is largely down to the fact that contrary to his recent statement that is his 'best squad ever' - it clearly isn't - we have seen less tinkering since the emergence of the force that is Chelsea.
Nonetheless Fergie's tirade does raise a few questions about procedures. Firstly surely the FA needs to come down hard on managers for such behaviour, because if Mourinho or Wenger acted in a similar manner we United fans would view this as trying to seek an advantage by putting pressure on the officials at half-time.
Secondly, how bad does a referee have to be before he is punished? So far we've only seen referee's rested following blatantly poor decision-making, as was the case in the Everton v Liverpool game. Referee's do get assessed on a match by match basis.
However, the problem is for the fans and managers alike, we never get to see those official assessments and what's more can a ref be consistently be poor with no fear of punishment, unless he misses a blatant penalty?
Personally I'd like to see the these assessments published on a weekly basis so that we the fans know how each referee has been officially marked for his performance. If the referee has had a poor run of games then this should trigger some form of action be it 'resting' the official concerned or otherwise.
I'm not an advocate of introducing in-game technology or messing around with the rules, the emphasis needs to be on better decision-making and improvements on performance.
Against Bolton on Saturday Fergie's beef with the same official was that the home team had been over physical. There will be some who suspect that Fergie was in part trying to blame the referee by deflecting the media spotlight away from his own shortcomings regarding his team selection having left out Anderson.
On top of which we have been belatedly told that Ronaldo who wasn't included in the squad which faced the Trotters because he was suffering with a minor muscle injury. Though this news only surfaced after the defeat so there has to be some element of doubt about the validity of the injury.
Even if we had been told that Ronaldo was injured prior to the game, Fergie has a record of tinkering with his teams down the years against supposedly weaker opposition. Thankfully, and this is largely down to the fact that contrary to his recent statement that is his 'best squad ever' - it clearly isn't - we have seen less tinkering since the emergence of the force that is Chelsea.
Nonetheless Fergie's tirade does raise a few questions about procedures. Firstly surely the FA needs to come down hard on managers for such behaviour, because if Mourinho or Wenger acted in a similar manner we United fans would view this as trying to seek an advantage by putting pressure on the officials at half-time.
Secondly, how bad does a referee have to be before he is punished? So far we've only seen referee's rested following blatantly poor decision-making, as was the case in the Everton v Liverpool game. Referee's do get assessed on a match by match basis.
However, the problem is for the fans and managers alike, we never get to see those official assessments and what's more can a ref be consistently be poor with no fear of punishment, unless he misses a blatant penalty?
Personally I'd like to see the these assessments published on a weekly basis so that we the fans know how each referee has been officially marked for his performance. If the referee has had a poor run of games then this should trigger some form of action be it 'resting' the official concerned or otherwise.
I'm not an advocate of introducing in-game technology or messing around with the rules, the emphasis needs to be on better decision-making and improvements on performance.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Could Keystone Cops defending cost Keane his job?
Premier League rubbing rags Derby County became the latest club to dispense with the services of their manager as Billy Davis received his marching orders (though officially Derby claim it was by mutual consent - whatever that means) after a pitiful return to the Premier League.
Derby County have the look of a ship that has been holed by an iceberg, no doubting the Rams board have moved before it's too late. Time will tell whether or not this latest sacking turns out to be akin to rearranging the deck-chairs on HMS Titanic. What odds on Steve "loads of money" McClaren returning to his former club?
Davis was of course a rookie Premier League manager, as is United legend Roy Keane whose Sunderland side defended like the Keystone Cops against Everton on Saturday when losing 7-1 at Goodison Park.
It wasn't so much that Everton played well, as they rightly did, but the Black Cats back four couldn't even stand up at key times, which led directly to at least two of the Toffees goals.
How difficult can it be for the players - aided by a small army of back-room staff to select the correct boots and studs for the conditions on the pitch? It's bad enough that players these days play in boots that resemble clown shoes without them performing like stars of the big-top.
United fans will no doubt recall that the very same thing happened last season in the semi-final of the Champions League in the San Siro against AC Milan. On the night it was tippling down with rain, but it was only the United players who were falling over - which again led to the home team taking the lead early on in the game after a passage of slip-ups and cock-ups. AC Milan had no problem playing attacking football on a rain sodden pitch. Our clowns couldn't even stand up.
If Keane isn't to become the seventh manager to part company with his Premier League employers this season, then things will have to change and quickly. There comes a point in troubled times when results are going against you, when all of the shouting and instructions from the manager starts to have little effect as everyone loses confidence from the board down to the players. This is clearly what happened at Bolton, Wigan, and Derby when Sammy Lee, Chris Hutchins and today Billy Davis walked out of the seemingly ever turning managers revolving door.
Football is in part an emotional business, but businessmen will only plough so much of their own money into supporting managers like Keane before hard headed decisions are made. There's no easy games in the Premier League, as United found at Bolton on Saturday, save for perhaps against Derby County who, ironically, face Sunderland this weekend.
Keane wont be panicking just yet, but he will know it is absolutely vital that his team takes all three points from the Rams game, as following that fixture they have some really difficult matches on the horizon with an away trip to Chelsea, home games with Villa and then the Red Devils on Boxing Day, in between those two massive games Sunderland travel to Reading.
Sunderland could easily be in the bottom two by the end of the year and if that happens I wouldn't bet against Roy Keane becoming the next managerial casualty early in the new year.
As a postscript to that scenario United's Jonny Evans might well have second thoughts about joining a sinking ship.
Derby County have the look of a ship that has been holed by an iceberg, no doubting the Rams board have moved before it's too late. Time will tell whether or not this latest sacking turns out to be akin to rearranging the deck-chairs on HMS Titanic. What odds on Steve "loads of money" McClaren returning to his former club?
Davis was of course a rookie Premier League manager, as is United legend Roy Keane whose Sunderland side defended like the Keystone Cops against Everton on Saturday when losing 7-1 at Goodison Park.
It wasn't so much that Everton played well, as they rightly did, but the Black Cats back four couldn't even stand up at key times, which led directly to at least two of the Toffees goals.
How difficult can it be for the players - aided by a small army of back-room staff to select the correct boots and studs for the conditions on the pitch? It's bad enough that players these days play in boots that resemble clown shoes without them performing like stars of the big-top.
United fans will no doubt recall that the very same thing happened last season in the semi-final of the Champions League in the San Siro against AC Milan. On the night it was tippling down with rain, but it was only the United players who were falling over - which again led to the home team taking the lead early on in the game after a passage of slip-ups and cock-ups. AC Milan had no problem playing attacking football on a rain sodden pitch. Our clowns couldn't even stand up.
If Keane isn't to become the seventh manager to part company with his Premier League employers this season, then things will have to change and quickly. There comes a point in troubled times when results are going against you, when all of the shouting and instructions from the manager starts to have little effect as everyone loses confidence from the board down to the players. This is clearly what happened at Bolton, Wigan, and Derby when Sammy Lee, Chris Hutchins and today Billy Davis walked out of the seemingly ever turning managers revolving door.
Football is in part an emotional business, but businessmen will only plough so much of their own money into supporting managers like Keane before hard headed decisions are made. There's no easy games in the Premier League, as United found at Bolton on Saturday, save for perhaps against Derby County who, ironically, face Sunderland this weekend.
Keane wont be panicking just yet, but he will know it is absolutely vital that his team takes all three points from the Rams game, as following that fixture they have some really difficult matches on the horizon with an away trip to Chelsea, home games with Villa and then the Red Devils on Boxing Day, in between those two massive games Sunderland travel to Reading.
Sunderland could easily be in the bottom two by the end of the year and if that happens I wouldn't bet against Roy Keane becoming the next managerial casualty early in the new year.
As a postscript to that scenario United's Jonny Evans might well have second thoughts about joining a sinking ship.
Fergie hints at cheap striker deal and Anelka link resurfaces...
No doubt still smarting from dropping his biggest clanger of the season so far when the manager rested Ronaldo and Anderson on Saturday, which resulted in three valuable points dropped at Bolton, Ferguson has been talking about the prospect of making the Carlos Tevez transfer deal permanent.
On the future of the Argentine the United manager had this to say "There is no question about his long-term future here," said Ferguson "The fee is in place. I won't tell you what it is but it is still cheap." Quite why Fergie has had to let it be known that the fee will be cheap doesn't seem like a very smart move given the deal has yet to be completed. It's surely an open invitation for the player's agent to up the asking price. The Glazers will be pleased with the manager...
Meanwhile, Bolton's goal hero against the Red Devils, le sulk, AKA Anelka is according the gutter press going to be the subject of a transfer battle between United and mighty City. While the Frenchman has most of the attributes to do the business in front of goal he comes with baggage, which is partly why he's had more clubs than Tiger Woods. Will United be his next move? We shall see.
On the future of the Argentine the United manager had this to say "There is no question about his long-term future here," said Ferguson "The fee is in place. I won't tell you what it is but it is still cheap." Quite why Fergie has had to let it be known that the fee will be cheap doesn't seem like a very smart move given the deal has yet to be completed. It's surely an open invitation for the player's agent to up the asking price. The Glazers will be pleased with the manager...
Meanwhile, Bolton's goal hero against the Red Devils, le sulk, AKA Anelka is according the gutter press going to be the subject of a transfer battle between United and mighty City. While the Frenchman has most of the attributes to do the business in front of goal he comes with baggage, which is partly why he's had more clubs than Tiger Woods. Will United be his next move? We shall see.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Ferguson pays price for tinkering...
Most English football fans went into the weekend suffering with a hangover following the disappointment of seeing England eliminated from Euro 2008. However, United apart, all of the leading clubs in the Premier League won their fixtures on Saturday to in part make up for the events at Wembley just a few days before.
For Reds fans the hangover carried on over the weekend as United somehow contrived to lose a league game at Bolton for the first time in 29 years, courtesy of an early first-half Anelka goal at the Reebok after Pique totally misjudged a cross into the box and the Frenchman was on hand to score with ease. The young Spanish defender was standing in for Vidic who'd picked up a back injury on international duty.
So come Saturday night United fans where left cursing the fact that the Reds had allowed the chasing pack to close the gap and worse still Arsenal had opened up a three point lead at the top of the table.
Many United supporters will no doubt be pointing the finger at Ferguson who it appears had forgotten that when Rooney and Ronaldo do not play the Reds do not offer the same threat going forward, this fact was underscored in the first few weeks of the season when we couldn't find the back of the net.
Only just a few weeks ago Bolton were shipping goals and looked like relegation fodder, so perhaps this led Fergie to believe that he could take liberties with the Trotters because he decided to leave out Ronaldo plus Anderson and of course Rooney is injured.
In hindsight it looks like a very bad decision (even madness perhaps) and it looks like a classic case of tinkering gone wrong. There was no reason to leave out Ronaldo and Anderson with United having secured their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Perhaps Fergie felt under pressure from the likes of Carrick, who has not been getting many games of late. Surely though the game with Sporting Lisbon was the game to play players like Carrick and Nani?
On Saturday it was only after Ferguson made changes in the second half when bringing on Anderson did the champions take control of the game. You don't always get what you deserve in football and against Bolton United should have at least taken a draw a point from the game, how Tevez missed a second chance from six yards out is as baffling as Fergie's team selection.
If the Reds go on to lose the league by three points or less, then we will look back at this result and wonder what might have been.
On the upside, surely Wayne Rooney cannot suffer any more injuries this season and it is to be hoped that this is just a blip in what will turn out to be a very successful season. If the manager is suffering from memory loss, the result at the Reebok will give him a timely reminder that he cannot afford to be taking liberties with anyone when the battle at the top of the table is so tight. Fergie wont do it again this season surely?
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