Manchester United Blog | The Stretty Rant

Manchester United retained the League Cup today having beaten Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley today. Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney scored the crucial goals to give United their fourth League cup win, with our number ten getting lots of superlatives thrown in his direction. Wayne Rooney is without doubt the best player on the planet and our star player by a mile – however, United demonstrated their strength in depth today with superb performances from Dimitar Berbatov, Antonio Valencia and Ji-Sung Park as we enter the business end of the season.

Continue reading Dimitar Berbatov, Antonia Valencia & Park show quality in final

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Sir Alex Ferguson steered his Manchester United side into the record books once again as it was the first time in history that the club had ever successfully defended a cup competition – a result that wasn’t without fortune, though, and a result that was secured with a familiar combination.

Continue reading Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa Match Report

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Brazilian Anderson will miss the rest of the season after damaging his cruciate ligament injury early in the West Ham game on Tuesday. The midfielder was making his first start after alleged disciplinary issues and got injured after less than ten minutes, hobbling round as a passenger until the 18th, but now it seems that the damage is far worse than first anticipated.

Continue reading Anderson injured: Cruciate ligament damage rules midfielder out

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Wayne Rooney scored twice and Michael Owen came off the bench to net another as Champions Manchester United strolled past West Ham at Old Trafford. It was a poor game of football to mark the 100th anniversary of the Theatre of Dreams but Rooney did at least do his best to illuminate the fixture.

Continue reading Manchester United 3-0 West Ham Match Report

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he has explained to Bulgaria’s leading goalscorer of all time, Dimitar Berbatov, why it is difficult to include the player when United play a three man midfield. Some of Manchester United’s most impressive performances over the past eighteen months have come when United adopt a 4-3-3 formation, especially in Europe. Dimitar Berbatov was selected last season in the 0-0 draw against Inter Milan as the lone front man (which was due to Wayne Rooney coming back from injury). However, due to the scintillating form of Rooney, Berbatov’s appearances in a 4-3-3 formation have been limited, with the recent games against Arsenal and Milan as evidence.

Continue reading Fergie: Hard to include Dimitar Berbatov in 4-3-3 formation

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Manchester United’s defeat to Everton was only the third time in Premier League history Evertonian’s got one over us at Goodsion Park. The first defeat at Goodison in the Premier League was in February 1995, when a Daniel Amokachi gave the Toffees a 1-0 victory. They had to wait another ten years to taste victory against United, another header from an Everton legend – Duncan Ferguson – gave the home side a 1-0 victory, which helped in their push for a fourth place finish. On both occasions we lost the league to Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea respectively. In 1995 we were without our talisman Eric Cantona, whilst in 2005 we arguably had a team in transition – but what was our excuse yesterday?

Continue reading Goodison defeat does not bode well for title aspirations

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Everton’s future prospects placed a huge stumbling block in the road of Manchester United’s future prospects as substitutes Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell scored goals to give the Toffees a fully deserved win and leave the reigning Champions’ title aspirations in tatters.

Continue reading Everton 3-1 Manchester United Match Report

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Our grand old stadium is 100 years old today and I am welcoming you to share your memories with us here at the Stretty Rant. 100 years ago today United played their first match at Old Trafford – a 4-3 loss to Liverpool. Over the years the stadium has witnessed some fascinating moments and played host to a number of wonderful United sides. Old Trafford was home to Jack Rowley, Bobby Charlton, George Best, Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney – players who are engraved into the history and tradition of the football club. Here is to the next 100 years!

Continue reading Old Trafford – 100 years old today

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One thing that winds me up is the old ‘lucky Man United’ tag that gets labeled at any fortuitous event that surrounds the club. Whether it be a refereeing decision or a scuffed shot that hits a pigeon and rolls in past the keeper – United are generally perceived as a side that have the Gods looking down on them. It amazes me that tag has been around for about eighteen/twenty years – its interesting the Gods have stayed around for so long! So to Paul Scholes’ superb ‘shinner’ against Milan on Tuesday night – big fat piece of luck? Or what goes around comes around?

Continue reading Paul Scholes lucky goal against Milan – remember Porto?

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Wolverhampton Wanderers were today fined £25k for fielding an understrength side against United back in December. Wolverhampton Wanders lost the match 3-0, however made a number of changes from their game against Tottenham Hotspur the previous weekend for the clash against Manchester United. Mick McCarthy obviously felt that he should rest his side for the match against Burnley after United – a match that Wolves won 2-0. The Stretty Rant feel that the Premier League are demonstrating complete double standards on this issue.

Continue reading Wolves fined £25,000 for fielding weakened side against United

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