Manchester United closed the gap on League leaders Chelsea to just two points after ending 2009 with a superb 5-0 demolition of Wigan.
Alex Ferguson’s side produced the perfect response to Chelsea’s win over Fulham on Monday, which had again extended the clubs advantage to five points. With goals from Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Rafael Da Silva, Dimitar Berbatov and former Wigan star Antonio Valencia, United played like a team possessed right from the start.
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Tags: 5-0, antonio valencia, berba, berbatov, carrick, man utd, rafael da silva, rooney, valencia, wayne rooney, wigan 
No Comments »Nemanja Vidic’s days at Manchester United look increasingly numbered according to many reports in reputable newpapers today, with Real Madrid confident of signing the Serbian defender in the summer.
Posted in Latest News Tags: £30m, alex ferguson, nemanja vidic, perez, real madrid, SAF, transfer, vidic No Comments »Wayne Rooney scored one goal and was involved in three more during United’s 3-1 win away to Hull. The much needed victory moved United to within two points of leaders Chelsea who had drawn the previous day against Birmingham
Rooney pounced on the stroke of half-time with a close range finish after a great cross on the wing from Darren Fletcher to claim his 14th goal of the season and sixth in as many games.
Posted in Latest News Tags: 1-3, dimitar berbatov, fletcher, hull, man of the match, man utd, manchester united, midfielder, rooney, wayne rooney, wazza No Comments »
Fulham produced the latest twist in a see-saw Premier League title race with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Manchester United at Craven Cottage.
Uniteds’ ongoing defensive crisis meant Sir Alex had to resort to a 3-5-2 formation which Fulham took full advantage of with goals from Danny Murphy, Bobby Zamora and a late third from Damien Duff.
It was all very different in the early stages of the game though with United dominating for large parts of the game. Both Darron Gibson and Wayne Rooney tried audacious lobs in the first 10 minutes which weren’t quite executed perfectly.
Fulham took the lead in the 22nd minute when Paul Scholes lost the ball to Murphy. While Carrick backed off him Murphy took the invitation to shoot and smashed it calmly past Kuszczak.
With their first attack in the 2nd half a headed down from Dempsey fell to the in-form Bobby Zamora (not words you normally associate with Zamora!) who scored from close range. Fulhams’ domination prompted Ferguson to make a couple of substitutions bringing on Fabio and Berbatov for de Laet and Gibson for a traditional 4-4-2 formation. Although United played marginally better they were well and truly humbled in the 75th minute. Without wanting to go into too much detail (it’s hard enough writing this!) Duff’s volley gave Kuszczak no chance.
United’s defeat left United three points behind leaders Chelsea.
The Blues will extend their advantage to six points if they win away to relegation-threatened West Ham on Sunday.
“The way the league is at the moment I hope today is not too damaging. I hope it doesn’t cost us the league,” Ferguson told club channel MUTV.
“We’ll have to get our defenders back to give us a proper chance of going for the league, there’s no question of that. But if we get them back we’ll be back in it.”
United moved level on points at the top of the Premiership table after coasting to a 3-0 victory against Wolves at Old Trafford.
Wolves manager with one eye on the forthcoming match against Burnley opted to make 10 outfield changes to his team from the one that managed to humble Tottenham at the weekend. With a United side wounded after their unexpected loss to Aston Villa at the weekend it was always going to be an uphill battle for Wolves.
As has happened all too often this season United started slowly and looked sluggish at times. At the half hour stage the scores were still level with Wolves actually having a few good chances to get a goal if it wasn’t for some bad finishing by their players.
United finally took control of the game after the half hour mark when a Darron Gibson cross was handled in the area needlessly by Ronald Zubar. Rooney stepped up to take the penalty and powered the shot to the keepers right hand side to claim his 12th Premiership goal of the season.
On the stroke of half-time United were 2-0 when another Darron Gibson cross from the corner was met by Nemanja Vidic who headed it powerfully goalwards. Hahnemann got a weak hand to the shot with it squirming into the net.
The win was sealed by Antonia Valencia midway through the second half when a clever Dimitar Berbatov flick over the defender fell perfectly to Antonio Valencia who made no mistake with his clinical shot. As usual Valencia’s celebration was muted to say the least! One of these days we may even see him crack a smile when he scores or even raise at arm (preferably in the Champions League final!).
United made hard work of the result initially and Sir Alex Ferguson will demand they play more confidently and take control of matches more going forward. With Premiership matches against Fulham, Hull, Wigan, Birmingham, Burnley and Hull again United should be looking to go on a good winning streak and work on their goal difference. Three points tonight with three goals was a good start.
Ryan Giggs fought off competition from Jenson Button, the current Formula One champion to win the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Sunday night.
After picking up his latest award the 36 year old Man Utd legend said “I’d just like to thank the BBC and everyone who voted for me. This is unbelievable. This is a shock as you can tell by the speech I’ve prepared! I’ve been lucky enough to win many things in my career. I’ve played with some great players, the greatest manager who’s ever lived, and the greatest club in the world. But this is up there. I grew up watching this TV programme. To be up there is unbelievable”
The award, the latest in a long line recently was in recognition of amassing a record 11 Premiership title trophies, making more appearances for his club than any other player and for consistently playing at a high level year in year out. This award comes close after collecting the PFA Player of The Year award earlier in the year.
The Sports Personality award has been awarded controversially to unworthy winners in the past but no one can deny Giggs is a worthy winner. His current excellent club form has also prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to offering him a new contract.
Now if only we could clone him and have a Giggs in our side for decades to come!
Posted in Latest News Tags: bbc, giggs 2009, giggs award, ryan giggs, sports personality 2009 No Comments »Aston Villa ended a barren streak at Old Trafford stretching back 26 years by beating Man Utd to move into third place in the table.
Uniteds’ defence was bolstered by the return of Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic while midweek hero Michael Owen returned back to the bench.
With Chelsea unexpectedly drawing their game earlier on against Everton this was the ideal time for United to cement a win and draw level on points with them.
The game began fairly quietly but was brought into life in the 20th minute with an Agbonlahor strike. The Villa striker who has scored against United in the past three seasons began the move on the right wing finding Ashley Young. The young winger then cut the ball back onto his favoured right foot before delivering a cross for Agbonlahor to duly nod home. Kuszczak was partly responsible for the goal due to his indecisiveness, first coming off his line to cut out the cross before stopping without challenging.
United tried to hit back straight away with Rooney at the heart of most of the attacking intent. In the second half a clearly unimpressed Ferguson changed things around when he bought on Michael Owen for Ryan Giggs, then Berbatov for Park but to no avail. Despite having a good few half chances and the addition of the two strikers bringing an extra edge to United’s attack they couldn’t secure that much needed goal.
It meant Villa left swaggering off the Old Trafford pitch and United rueing a great opportunity to close the lead at the top of the table.
An injury-ravaged Manchester United rode their luck a bit last night but finished as Group B leaders after another Michael Owen hat-trick in Germany!
United began the game with Patrice Evra as the sole regular first-team defender assisted by Park at right back with Carrick and Fletcher partnering in central defence.
As things stood before the match Wolfsburg needed a win whilst United needed a point to seal the top spot in the group.
Wolfsburg were buoyed by an unfamiliar United defence with three players playing out of position and duly cranked up the pressure from kick-off. They should have taken the lead in the 17th minute when Barzagli headed over the bar from five yards out despite being unmarked. Within minutes the hosts spurned another excellent chance when again, an unmarked Wolfsburg player, this time Misimovic, struck a weak header clear of the bar.
Posted in Latest News Tags: champions league, gabriel obertan, man utd, michael owen, nani, obertan, uefa cl, wolfsburg No Comments »Despite many of the pundits claiming the title is Chelseas’ already United showed today that a 5 point deficit is not unassailable. Manchester United started the day knowing that a victory against West Ham would cut the lead to 2 points with Chelsea playing later on in the evening against Man City.
The omens for United weren’t good though. Playing West Ham away in the past had not been a happy hunting ground for United (let’s not talk about the final game of the 94/95 season!). Added to that the fact that United’s defence had an unusual look with Gary Neville and Wes Brown in the middle (due to an injury to Vidic) and Darren Fletcher taking the right back spot with Kuszczak in goal for the second league outing in a row.
The mis-matched pairings in defence could partly be blamed for a first half largely lacking in action. Ryan Giggs uncharacteristically almost handed The Hammers the opening goal when he passed straight to Hines in the box before redeeming himself with a challenge to deny a certain goal.
Things took a turn for the worse when Neville pulled up awkwardly and had to be taken off. The lack of defenders on the bench meant Carrick found himself deputising as an emergency centre-half. The patched up United defence should have given West Ham further hope but it was the veteran Paul Scholes that dealt the first blow just before half-time. Picking up a loose ball on the edge of the box he chested it down before smashing it into the net bringing back memories of vintage Scholes strikes from the past. It was also his 99th Premier League goal.
West Ham had a couple of chances in the second half but a mixture of indecisiveness by the West Ham players and an alert Kuszczak meant their attacks were fruitless. It was to prove costly as Ryan Giggs as so often has happened this season was the instigator for the next United goal. As he broke down the left wing he laid the ball into the path of Darron Gibson who hit a stunning strike from 20 yards out that Scholes in his prime would have been proud of. With Scholes hinting today that he’s contemplating leaving United in the summer United could potentially have a worthy successor in the young Irishman.
The champions were in no mood to take their foot off the pedal with them assuming full control of the game. What followed was two further goals in the space of two minutes. First the ever-improving Antonio Valencia tapped in Anderson’s low cross before he provided a pin-point assist to allow Rooney to get his 11th league strike of the campaign.
With Man City doing their neighbours a massive favour by beating Chelsea, United cut the gap at the top of the table by two points. Although Alex Ferguson must have been happy with the result he must surely be wondering who he will pair up in defence for the midweek Champions League game against Wolfsburg. Sir Alex if you’re reading this I’ve got my boots at the ready and can get to the airport in 20 minutes. I’ll wait for your call…
Posted in Latest News Tags: antonio valencia, darron gibson, paul scholes, wayne rooney, west ham No Comments »Darren Gibson produced a match-winning performance and salvaged some youth-players pride by scoring twice to send the current Cup holders into the Carling Cup semi-final at the expense of Tottenham in a 2-0 victory.
Sir Alex Ferguson as expected shuffled his pack for the tie with Berbatov starting upfront against his former team with Owen dropping back onto the bench.
After the youngsters’ disappointing performances against Besiktas in the Champions League the previous week Sir Alex Ferguson would have been pleased with their workrate and their response to the media criticism.
United took the lead just after the quarter of an hour mark when Anderson won possession on the left wing before laying it into the path of Gibson who hit a low clinical shot into the corner past a diving Heurelho Gomes.
For Spurs Bentley and Defoe were both denied goals by Tomasz Kuszczak who was again picked ahead of Ben Foster in the United goal. It was after the Tottenham attempts that United got the all-important second goal. Gibson again was involved, initially exchanging passes with Danny Welbeck before placing a superbly placed shot in the upper right hand corner of Gomes’ goal. If Berbatov had been more decisive in front of the goal the lead could have been extended further after he was set up by the ever-improving Obertan.
Sir Alex Ferguson for one was a happy man.
“We were a bit fortunate in the first half, we scored against the run of play,” he told Sky Sports.
“Spurs dominated the first 30 minutes of the match. We couldn’t get the game going until we scored.
“In the second half we were much, much better.”
Ferguson is currently serving a touchline ban but insisted the club has not been hindered by the ruling.
He added: “We all play a part at this club, it’s no one-man show, there’s continuity about Manchester United which is always important.
“We’re two games from Wembley. We’ll enjoy the semi-final and these lads will play again.”
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