Manchester United centre half Rio Ferdinand could be fit for the trip to London to take on Spurs on Saturday after Sir Alex Ferguson claimed he had a ‘chance’ of making the squad. Ferdinand has been out for nearly a month after injuring a thigh muscle in training for United – with young Evans deputising for the experienced defender.
Having been away from so long I haven’t been able to update the Statistics on the website – until now that is. So far we’ve played five games (including the Charity Shield) , scored ten goals, conceded four and Wayne Rooney leads the scoring charts with five goals in all competitions.
Manchester United centurion Wayne Rooney has shrugged off the claims from Arsenal fans that he was on his way down already before contact from Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia in the 2-1 victory over the Gunners last Saturday. Rooney scored from the resulting penalty – which brought United back into the game.
Wayne Rooney
Unsurprisingly, Wayne Rooney is our player of the month for August. While Cristiano Ronaldo settles in with his £80m price tag, conversely it is on Rooney’s shoulders that this £80m responsibility has been shifted to – the task of becoming less sidekick and more leading light comes with extra pressure when the terms “world player of the year” and “most expensive player ever” are bandied about.
There are plenty of United fans however who always believed Rooney to be the brains of the operation, the true heartbeat of the side. And, naturally, Rooney has blossomed under the spotlight of expectation with a thundering 5 goals in his first 5 games.
His average rating of 7.6 for the 5 games (including the Community Shield) is heavily weighed down by the collective team shambles at Turf Moor – in all other games we’ve ranked him at least 8 / 10, and Man of the Match on three occasions.
While his new club striker team mate Michael Owen may have sent a brochure around in the summer illustrating his talents, United’s number 10 has done his talking on the pitch – painting himself as last minute saviour, the man to dig the team out of a sticky situation, chief orchestrator of an on song display, and the man for the big occasion all in one month.
It’s fair to say that a great deal of United’s trophy aspirations lie with Rooney – and if he continues to perform in such a manner, Sir Alex’s troops may well have some medals come the end of the season.
Goal of the month : Dimitar Berbatov v Wigan
In a great team performance, this goal was the perfect snapshot – clever link up with Scholes and Rooney finding the Bulgarian who exquisitely controlled the ball over the keeper and finished emphatically.
Yes – we’ve been as slow as old cart horse John Terry chasing an old granny lately but with good reason! My house move is all done just waiting on broadband activation now – but when there is connection everything will be up to speed!
Anyhow that is enough of my pathetic excuses, on to more promising matters of Owen Hargreaves return with his inclusion in the Champions League squad. If there was no chance of him playing – like when Mourinho left out Michael Ballack in 2007 after his injury – Fergie wouldn’t have even thought about including the midfielder in his list. Turns out Hargreaves is back at United this month – and hopefully not too far away from first team action.
