Slow Start for Manchester United

As usual another slow start for Manchester United in the league. United drew with Fulham in an away fixture to share one point each.

Scholes gave the visiting team lead in the firts half. In absence of Rooney, United looked slow in attack with Berbatov and new signing Hernandez. Fulham came back after the half time and it looked to fininsh at 1 - 1 after 80 minutes. Things changed dramitically as Hanglehand scored an own goal to give United lead for the second time in the game. Just moments after the goal United got a penalty with Duff caught handling the ball in the box. Nani took the penalty but the goal keeper saved it to deny 2 goals lead for United.

More drama. Hanglehand scored on a corner to level the game just moments befor the 90 minutes of play. Hughes looked happy with the result and Sir Alex was not convinced woth the way game finished. Evans was not very comfortable against Zamore and co. Long balls and crosses were flowing in the whole game for home side.

For United Scholes scored for 150th time. The absence of Rooney made the difference. Owen and Giggs came in the second half but they looked never ever scoring.

Final Score:

Fulham 2
Manchecter United 2

Blackburn 0 - Manchester United 0

Manchester United shared points in the match against Blackburn and failed to go top in English Premier League. Blackburn’s cautious and calculated approach was sufficient for them to share points with Manchester United.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson preferred experienced player and started with Giggs and Scholes in central midfield with Nani and Valencia on wings. As expected Rooney missed the game because of his injury and Macheda joined Berbatov upfront.

O'shea returned to take part in a premier league game after a long time.

Blackburn were cautious in the first half and Valencia had two good chances of which one was one on one with Robinson. Overall Manchester United never looked threatening in the first half. Samba got injured and Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce was forced to make first change in 33rd minute.

In the second half Blackburm were more attacking than before but Van Der Sar did enough to maintain a clean sheet. Ferdinand got injured and there is no news about the seriousness of his injury.

In the end moments Garry Neville blocked a shot from Steven Nzonzi and finally the game ended as a draw.

Final Score:

Blackburn 0 - 0 Man Utd

Teams:

Blackburn

Robinson
Samba (Nelsen 33) - Givet - Olsson (Diouf 70) - Salgado
Jones - Emerton (Dunn 46) - Grella - Pedersen
Nzonzi - Kalinic

Man Utd

Van der Sar
Neville - Ferdinand - Vidic - O'Shea (Evra 79)
Valencia - Giggs (Gibson 57) - Scholes - Nani
Berbatov - Macheda (Park 65)

After this draw Man Utd remained at second position in the league with Chelsea ahead them with one point and one game in hand.

Man Utd out from UEFA Champions League despite win over Bayern

Manchester United’s hope of double of Champions League and Premier League ended after thrashing out from the UEFA Champions League despite a win over German giants Bayern Munich.

Wednesday night was full of drama at Old Trafford and many unexpected things happened with a bottom line that Bayern Munich secured a place in semi finals of Champions League after winning on away goals rule. The first leg at Munich ended 2-1 for the home side on last week. So Bayern visited Manchester with 2-1 lead on aggregate but United were having the advantage of away goals.

On Wednesday night the entire world has witnessed a great drama at Old Trafford in which Manchester United won the game 3-2 but can’t make to the semi finals.
United boss Sir Alex Fergusson stunned everyone by including Wayne Rooney in the first eleven. Another shocking inclusion was Gibson.

United equaled on goals on aggregate just three minutes after the start when Gibson scored to ensure United to go ahead if the match will not see any further goals. Score changed after seven minutes from kick off again in the favor of home team when Nani scored on an assist from Valencia.

Nani scored again just four minutes before the half time and score line became 3-0 for the home team. It was looking to be a similar game of Champion’s league that United have won 7-1 over AS Roma in 2006-07 season. That time also United were behind by 1-2 after the away leg, but in the home game United battered Roma 7-1 to ensure their position in the semi finals that year.

Olic scored just before the half time and signaled a threat for United, from this point Bayern were just one goal behind going to Champions League semi final. At the half time it was clear that there is a lot more action to come.

Second half started and United showed a cautious approach and Rafael was booked second time in 50th minute and was sent off. This really changed things around and Sir Alex Fergusson was forced to add more to defending options in order to deny any other goals from Bayern. So he substituted Wayne Rooney and send O Shea who played his first game in nearly five months. Bayern were full on attack with Schweinsteiger, Ribery and Robben in the midfiled with Olic and Gomez upfront. In 74th minute a wonder goal came from a volley from Arjen Robben and that goal created the difference between the two sides.

The final score remained 3-2 in favor of Man Utd but it was not enough to take them into last four of Champions League.

This is first time in nearly seven years that none of the English club has reached the semi finals of this competition.

Some people may question about Rooney’s inclusion, in spite of injuries, in the team. Alex Fergusson started with lots of experienced player on the bench and many young bloods on starting line up like Rafael and Gibson. He preferred Scholes and Giggs on bench with Berbatov and O Shea. Squad captain Garry Neville was not even on the bench. This approach from Sir Alex Ferguson was a little uncharacteristic because in past we have seen him having faith on experienced players in big games. On the other hand this may be due to the fact of weekend game against Chelsea.

This match will be among most beautiful defeat for the German Giants. Their calculated approach was enough to seal a place in the last four and they will play Lyon in the semi finals.

Rooney out for a month

Ace striker Wayne Rooney will not take part in any action for at lease a month. Clearly he will be out from important home game against Chelsea and Champions League game against B Munich.

Four Devils among Top 50 highest football salary getters

Four Manchester United players are among the top highest paid footballers in world made by Portuguese agency Futebol Finance. Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs are in the list of “Top 50 footballers with highest salaries”.

Ex Man Utd player Cristiano Ronaldo is on the top of this list followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi on the second and third position. Interesting thing is that all these three players are playing in Spanish League.

Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor is the highest paid footballer currently playing in English Premier League. He is followed by Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea) and Frank Lampard (Chelsea).

For Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand is the player getting highest salary of £5.6million. He is one 18^th position in the world players list. Wayne Rooney (£5.2million) is on 20^th position. Dimitar Berbatov (£4.1million) and Ryan Giggs (£4.1million) are on 46^th and 49^th position respectively.

The whole list is as following:

1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, £11.3million)
2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona, £10.4million)
3 Lionel Messi (Barcelona, £9.1million)
4 Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale, £9.1million)
5 Kaka (Real Madrid, £8.7million)
6 Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City, £7.4million)
7 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, £7.4million)
8 Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, £7million)
9 John Terry (Chelsea, £6.5million)
10 Frank Lampard (Chelsea, £6.5million)
11 Thierry Henry (Barcelona, £6.5million)
12 Xavi (Barcelona, £6.5million)
13 Ronaldinho (AC Milan, £6.5million)
14 Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, £6.5million)
15 Daniel Alves (Barcelona, £6.1million)
16 Michael Ballack (Chelsea, £5.6million)
17 Raul (Real Madrid, £5.6million)
18 Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United, £5.6million)
19 Kolo Toure (Manchester City, £5.6million)
20 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, £5.2million)
21 Robinho (Manchester City, £5.2million)
22 Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, £5.2million)
23 Victor Valdez (Barcelona, £5.2million)
24 Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla, £5.2million)
25 Deco (Chelsea, £5.2million)
26 Didier Drogba (Chelsea, £4.8million)
27 Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, £4.8million)
28 Francesco Totti (Roma, £4.8million)
29 Luca Toni (Roma, £4.8million)
30 David Villa (Valencia, £4.8million)
31 Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, £4.8million)
32 Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich, £4.8million)
33 Ashley Cole (Chelsea, £4.8million)
34 Fernando Torres (Liverpool, £4.8million)
35 Gareth Barry (Manchester City, £4.8million)
36 Patrick Vieira (Internazionale, £4.8million)
37 Charles Puyol (Barcelona, £4.3million)
38 Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, £4.3million)
39 Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, £4.3million)
40 Andreas Pirlo (AC Milan, £4.3million)
41 Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich, £4.3million)
42 Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich, £4.3million)
43 David Beckham (AC Milan, £4.3million)
44 Wayne Bridge (Manchester City, £4.3million)
45 Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid, £4.3million)
46 Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United £4.1million)
47 Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal, £4.1million)
48 Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea, £4.1million)
49 Ryan Giggs (Manchester United £4.1million)
50 Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus, £4.1million)

Source: Top 50 highest football salaries

AC Milan 2 - Manchester United 3

Man Utd have won the much awaited game against AC Milan in the first leg of Champions League Second Round.

Ace striker Wayne Rooney continued his dream form and scored twice after Scholes equalized for United in Reply to Ronaldinho's goal in the third minute. Seedorf scored in 85th minute to reduce the gap.

Final Score:
AC Milan 2
Manchester United 3

Manchester United v Portsmouth: Preview

Manchester United will face the weakest team of Premier League on Saturday at Old Trafford with a great chance of going on top of the table.

The confidence level of the United players is sky high after the win over Arsenal last Sunday. On the other hand Portsmouth is struggling and was forced to sell their top player to sustain in the league financially. So it is expected to be a one sided game in favor of the Red Devils.

Team News
Manchester United
Rio Ferdinand will remain suspend and miss this tie. Hargreaves and O Shea will remain out due to their injuries. Vidic may come back to join Evans or Brown at the center back position. Sir Alex should go with the same combination in the mid field and upfront that played against Arsenal.

Portsmouth
Diop and Hreidarsson will miss this tie.

Manchester United must go for a kill in this game because it is a scoring game for United and this will help them to improve their goal difference.

Probable Line Up

Manchester United

Van Der Sar
Rafael - Vidic - Evans - Evra
Nani - Scholes - Carrick - Fletcher - Park

Rooney

Portsmouth

James
Belhadj - Ben Heim - Wilson - Finnan
O' Hara - Brown - Mokoena
Yebda - Boateng
Piquionne

Predicted Score

Manchester United 5
Portsmouth 0

Owen Hargreaves out of Manchester United Champions League Team

England’s defensive midfielder Owen Hargreaves has been left out of Manchester United’s Champions League squad for the knockout rounds. Previously, Hargreaves was expected to come back in the Champions League tie against A C Milan.

Hargreaves has been out since September 2008. This 29 years old midfielder is an ex Byern Munich player. He has undergone surgery on both knees in December 2008 and January 2009.

Now the big question is whether he will be able to take part in the World Cup which is going to held in South Africa later this year. Hargreaves’ performance was eye catching in the game against Portugal in the last world cup. In fact he was the only English player to score a goal in the penalty shoot out in that game.

Hargreaves has been replaced by Ritchie De Laet, in the only change to their squad for the knockout rounds.

Reports last month suggested Hargreaves was under pressure with a lack of confidence after being out for so long.

This now makes it difficult for Hargreaves to play enough games to secure an England World Cup place. Consequently this may force Sir Alex Ferguson to think upon signing a central defensive midfielder in the summer transfer market.

Arsenal vs Manchester United: Pictures

Arsenal 1 - Manchester United 3: Pictures

Almunia's own goal

Nani is congratulated by the team after the first goal

Wayne Rooney after scoring second goal of the match

Park scored third goal and sealed the game for United

Nani and Wayne Rooney showed great attacking display and destroyed the gunners

Andrey Arshavin tackled by Wes Brown

Song Billong closing Jonathan Evans

Chelsea Drew with Hull: Another good result for United

Hull City and Chelsea have shared points after a 1-1 draw at . Both goals came in the first half.

Now the difference in Chelsea and Manchester United is only two points. So Man Utd will go on top of the table if they manage a victory over Portsmouth. On Sunday Chelsea will face Arsenal and it will be a do or die situation for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger knows that losing this game will virtually end their hopes of winning the trophy.

Final Score

Hull City 1
Chelsea 1

Manchester United: After Emirates triumph

Mike Phelan, often known as right-hand man of Sir Alex Ferguson, has recently said that Manchester United's convincing victory over Arsenal has added to the self-belief of the team. This win has added a lot to the team’s hope of winning the Premier League for the fourth time in a row.

As usual United has failed to cover some easy points in this season, but now they are looking to come back on their track. Phelan added that the side is now finding their stride. "I just think the belief’s there now," the coach told the pres. "The players are starting to tune in to what we are trying to do on the training ground.”

In the game the combination of Nani and Rooney has worked well ahead of strong defensive midfield of Scholes, Fletcher and Carrick. Park also did well and added one more goal to his name against the rivals.

So clearly the players have now smelt that they can win the title for record fourth season in a row.

January Transfer Window closed with no major addition to Top four!!

The Winter Transfer window has closed with no major addition to the so called top four clubs of English Premier League. The top four of English Premier League haven’t added or lost much new players to their squad.

The month of January is the month of change in English Premier League. Last season we have witnessed a few very important signings to the English Clubs in the mid season transfer window. One of them was Arshavin, who has not taken any time to prove his worth. The main reason behind the Top English clubs failing to sign big guns of soccer is the lack of money. The two most famous clubs Manchester United and Liverpool are in huge financial crisis and can’t spend like before. Chelsea, on the other hand have money to spend but their new boss Carlo Ancelotti never looked interested in signing new players. Although he knew well that he will lose players like Drogba, Mikel and Essian to AFCON in January, he was never in a mood to bring new players. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is famous for very calculative signings signed his old player Sol Campbell for free. Wenger was also looking interested for 20-year-old Chris Smalling.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has signed 20-year-old Chris Smalling from Fulham. He will join Old Trafford in July for a four year contract. Apart from Smalling United’s highly-rated striker Mame Diouf came back from loan to join squad.

Man Utd’s arch rivals Liverpool has signed free agent Maxi Rodriguez of Argentina.

Arsenal 1 - Manchester United 3

Manchester United showed more character and deserved disciplined performance to completely outplay overconfident Arsenal in their Premier League tie at Emirates on Sunday. It was best team performance so far in this season. With this win, Manchester United has made a very strong chance of winning the league for the fourth time in a row. All they need to do is to continue their disciplined performance.

The pace and movement in the 1st half was exceptional from United Players and the gunners just could keep up. The crisp passing, and especially the early one, had them stretching the whole time.

The 5 man midfield strategy worked again for the red devils and good defensive work was shown by Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher in the midfield. Nani and Park were good at wings and now Sir Alex must consider that Nani can be a very strong weapon if used properly. In short, Nani has been a revelation the last couple of games and it helped United so much!

Rooney is on a different world right now. He is in form of his career. He is playing at such a high level, you wonder just how long this streak will last. His work rate, his anticipation and most importantly, his finishing was as good as one can expect. His 100th goal in the Premier League came at the perfect time. Now Sir Alex Ferguson will be happy with one striker strategy.

Park scored third time against Arsenal and showed a much disciplined role and never tried to do something extraordinary.

Man Utd came up again with second choice centre backs. Sir Alex was forced to sideline United’s first choice centre backs Rio Ferdinand (suspended) and Nemanja Vidic (injured), but the combination of Evans and Brown looked sufficient for Arsenal. Evra and Rafael also ensured to cancel out all threats from Clichy and Sagna from wings.

For Arsenal, Fabregas looked in decent touch as usual. Rosicky and Nasri looked under prepared for this crunch tie. Rest was done by overconfident Arshavin who missed at least four or five chances. Denilson was low on confidence and he almost scored an own goal in the first half. Song came back to team from AFCON and did good tackles to stop any attack from central midfield.

Arsenal came into the game with their first choice defense line up. Thomas Vermaelen’s injury in the mid week tie against Aston Villa didn’t proved to be a major one and he came up for the game. Clichy was stunned by great runs from Nani. After the first goal Gallas started to move upfront all the time. Consequently United’s counter attack provided two more goals to finish the game. Vermaelen scored a consolation goal for Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger’s planning was to attack with Arshavin didn’t proved to be result oriented for Arsenal. He lacked confidence to play with Bendtner for full 90 minutes. Although the weakest part of United’s composition was central defense, but Wenger played with one striker (in fact an attacking midfielder in Strikers position).

Fabregas’ crosses and moves were sometimes more demanding from Walcott and Rosicky. Almunia gain failed to handle the pressure of big game and scored an own goal, failing to clear Nani’s cross. In the second half he gave a direct ball to Nani to give him another easy chance to score more. Arsenal will have to rethink on the capability of Almunia.

In the next week Man Utd has an easy game against Portsmouth, while Chelsea and Arsenal will battle it out for the Capital spoils. Wenger knows that it is important to win against Chelsea to keep their hopes alive for winning the League.

Starting Line Up:

Arsenal

Almunia

Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen - Clichy
Song - Denilson
Nasri – Fabregas - Rosicky
Arshavin

Manchester United

Van Der Sar

Rafael – Brown – Evans – Evra

Nani – Fletcher- Scholes – Carrick – Park

Rooney

Final Score:

Arsenal 1

(Vermaelen)

Manchester United 3

(Almunia (own goal), Rooney, Park)

Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Men to Watch

Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Men to Watch

For Arsenal: Cesc Fabregas - Fabregas's role is instrumental behind the success of Arsenal in this season. His performance against Aston Villa (3-0 win at Emirates) was stunning. He can turn things around at his own.

For Manchester United: Wayne Rooney!! Who else? Arsenal's Sol Campbell has recently said that Arsenal will have to plan to stop Rooney. Rooney is scoring at a good rate and can take away the game in a blink of an eye.

Rio Ferdinand to miss Arsenal game

Rio Ferdinand will miss the game against Arsenal due to a four game ban for violent conduct. Consequently he will miss games against Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Everton. Nemanja Vidic is almost sure to come back and join Jonny Evans at centre back position against Arsenal.

Ferdinand came back from three months injury to take part in game against Hull and he was found appeared to catch Hull's Craig Fagan in the face with a swinging arm. Normally this type of offense results in a three-match ban. But in this case the disciplinary panel of FA examined the appeal and an extra match suspension was added.

Although Manchester United are considering filing an appeal after Rio Ferdinand received a four-game ban for violent conduct, this may lead his ban to extend for one more game. This will cause him to miss the final of Carling Cup.

Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Preview

Manchester United will take on Arsenal in the Premier League tie at Emirates on 31st Jan. Both teams will go with lots of injuries into this much awaited clash. Arsenal vs Manchester United is a match of great importance in the history of Premier League. This tie was considered as the league decider 4-5 seasons ago.

Arsenal’s Team News

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has recently said that ten players of his team are injured. Eduardo and Arsenal’s best signing of the season Thomas Vermaelen got injured in their previous game against Aston Villa. Sol Campbell did a good job as a substitute for Vermaelen. Nicolas Bendtner came back from injury and replaced Eduardo. Van Persie, Merida, Djourou, Gibbs and Diaby are among other players who will not be available for this crunch game due to injuries.

For Arsenal Eboue and Song have come back from AFCON and may take part in the game.

Manchester United Team News

Manchester United is fully spirited with a win over Man City n the Carling Cup Semi Final. Team’s success depends upon Wayne Rooney. He is in great form and has shown great displays in recent games.

Manchester United is also lots of injured players in their team. Berbatov is not fully fit and it will be difficult for him to play for 90 minutes. Recently returned Rio Ferdinand will be out from this game because of four match ban imposed by FA. Vidic may come back and join Evans at centre back position. Rafael and Evra will be on their full back positions.

In the midfield Sir Alex will go with the same combination that played in the carling cup game. Again Rooney will play as a lone striker.

Probable Line Up:

Manchester United

Van der Sar
Rafael Da Silva - Vidic - Evans - Evra
Giggs - Carrick - Scholes - Nani
Fletcher
Rooney

Arsenal

Almunia
Sagna - Gallas - Campbell - Clichy
Denilson
Nasri - Fabregas - Ramsey - Rosicky
Arshavin

Manchester United 3 – Manchester City 1: Match Review

Finally Manchester United sealed a position in the Carling cup final after a dramatic game at Old Trafford against their arc rivals Manchester City. United’s superstar striker Wayne Rooney headed a cross from Ryan Giggs to send Manchester United into the Carling Cup final in the stoppage time of second half. At the end Manchester City did not looked very comfortable in handling the pressure of big game.

The result was an expected one but the way it came was not expected. After a goalless first half, Scholes scored in 52^nd minute to bring United equal on aggregate. Carrick made it 2-0 with just about 20 minutes left in the game. Carlos Tevez made it 2-1 and looked to have sent the semi-final into extra-time. But the final goal from Rooney sealed the game for Manchester United in the stoppage time.

Earlier in the Premier league Man City have faced similar situation when Owen scored in the stoppage time for United to win the game 4-3. Yesterday it was similar situation and City lost it 4-3 on aggregate.

For Manchester City Richards and Tevez came close to score but Van Der Sar denied them in doing so at both occasions. The game started in tight security and Man City showed great composure in both attack and defense. But games first goal came from 35 years old Paul Scholes when he stroked from 18 yards early in the second half.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson started the game with Rooney as a lone striker with Nani and Giggs on wings. Rooney’s dream form continued and he scored the most important goal of the game for United.

Teams:

Manchester United

Van der Sar

Rafael Da Silva - Ferdinand - Evans - Evra

Giggs - Carrick - Scholes - Nani

Fletcher

Rooney

Manchester City

Given

Richards - Zabaleta - Kompany - Garrido

Wright-Phillips - Barry - De Jong - Boyata

Tevez Bellamy

Final Score:

Manchester United 3 (Scholes, Carrick, Rooney) – Manchester City 1 (Tevez)

Facts of the game:

• All the three goals came from English players for Manchester United
• Garry Neville and Berbatov did not appear in the game. Neville was not even on the bench.
• Sir Alex Ferguson preferred to play with single striker.
• Carlos Tevez scored third time in two games against United.

Manchester United v Manchester City: match preview

England ace striker Wayne Rooney will have to continue his form for his club Manchester United against rivals Manchester City in the second leg of Carling cup semi final. Rooney who has scored four goals in the game against Hull will be the key man for the home team. City showed a display of much disciplined performance in the first leg and won the game. Now the pressure is on United and it will be a game of attack and defense.

Manchester United Tactics
Team boss Sir Alex knows it very well that his team needs to score in this game, so he will give preference to Berbatov upfront with Rooney. Nani also showed great moves in the game against Hull and will get a chance to play in this game. Ferdinand will be available for this game and this will certainly boost the defense of the home team.

Manchester City Tactics
Manchester City’s strategy will be focused on to stop Rooney. They will depend upon their centre back Victor Kompany. Newly appointed coach Roberto Mancini is working on the defense of the team and City is becoming more difficult to concede a goal.

Probable Teams

Manchester United

Van der Sar

Raeaef Ferdinand Evans Evra

Nani Fletcher Scholes Giggs

Rooney Berbatov

Manchester City

Given

Richards Boyata Kompany Garrido

Wright-Phillips De Jong Barry Petrov

Bellamy Tevez

Score Predication

Manchester United 3 - Manchester City 1