Carlos Tevez scored twice to give Manchester City a slight advantage going into the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final but to say the result was fortunate would probably be the understatement of the decade so far. The game was re-arranged after being originally postponed for snow; but Sir Alex Ferguson was true to his hint that he would shake things up following the FA Cup exit and play a stronger side – it was more or less United’s strongest, in a 4-3-3, as City did likewise.
Gary Neville has distanced himself from the appalling financial figures that were released by Manchester United last week. The club captain believes that the debt has “nothing to do with him” and that the players never get involved in “the financial side of things”. Neville’s comments are in complete contrast to former United captain and iconic figure Eric Cantona who claimed “Glazer could pay me 100m Euros to be manager and I still wouldn’t go there”. Should Gary Neville have been a little more tactful with his comments? It is difficult to believe that recent financial figures at Old Trafford would not concern a senior player like Neville even slightly. Or is he right – the players should concentrate on playing football rather than getting involved in finances – of course contract disputes are completely different matter, right Gary?
It threatened to be a long afternoon and Burnley threatened to upset the applecart for long periods of this Premier League game, but Manchester United turned up the pressure in the second half to record a comfortable 3 goal victory against their local opponents, exacting some revenge for their defeat in the return fixture in August.
Barcelona hero Teddy Sheringham has revealed that Manchester United are obviously missing the skill, power and goals of Cristiano Ronaldo – but – are also missing the presence of Carlos Tevez, who moved to Manchester City in July. So, are we missing the drive, movement and workrate of the Argentinian forward?
An entertaining game at St. Andrews ended in a draw as almost the only in-form team in the top division, Birmingham City, held Premier League Champions Manchester United to a 1-1 draw in a game that wasn’t without its needless controversy.
Manchester United’s Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic is set for a 10 day spell on the sidelines after tweaking a nerve in his leg before the embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Leeds United on Sunday. There are a number of reports suggesting that Vidic is looking for a transfer out of United, although his agent has stated that the defender is ‘happy’ at Old Trafford.
Our young forward Federico Macheda is being linked with a loan move to Serie A strugglers Bologna, although the Italian’s agent believes the move is ‘unlikely to happen’. Federico Macheda is yet to find the net in his five appearances so far this season and a loan move to his motherland may prove invaluable experience to a very talent youngster. Stretford-end.com believe that Macheda could well become one of the top strikers in the Premier League in five years time.
Where are United headed; are our players really that bad compared to Liverpools and Arsenals?
Everyone has said Chelsea are unstoppable and once again waxed lyrical about Arsenal and wrote off United. United have underachieved but are still arguably in a stronger position than this time last year. Yet again, the knives are out, and the idiot fans are in their droves to tell us that these United players have no talent and Liverpool’s and Arsenal’s are suddenly better. This is a Manchester United crisis that has yet to see us sink to the trophyless days of those two clubs.
Is it that United were so incredibly underrated despite their incredible success in the last few years that we now are panned for only performing a bit better instead of comprehensively better than our rivals in Red?
There is no doubt that Dimitar Berbatov is a fine footballer who is capable of genius at times. However, there is no doubt that there is an element of frustration around Old Trafford when Bulgaria’s top goalscorer ever gets into a strop and throws his hands up in the air. His hefty price tag hasn’t helped, considering we would have got him for around £10 million less had Manchester City not come in for him – but I think we’d all agree that we all gawped at the £30.75 million fee was a tad too much. This blog looks at his movement, passes and goals against former United strikers.
Manchester United suffered arguably the most embarrassing result in the Sir Alex Ferguson era as Leeds United from League One won at Old Trafford in the third round of the FA Cup – embarrassing in terms of the opposition, and embarrassing when considering the Premier League Champions’ Yorkshire rivals thoroughly deserved their victory.
