Manchester United's Headliners, Articles and Rumours

[machoman]

Man Utd restore five-point lead with emphatic win over Villa

Monday, April 16, 2012

Manchester United have maintained their five-point advantage at the top of the Premier League table courtesy of a 4-0 home win over Aston Villa.

Prior to today’s match, United led crosstown rivals Manchester City by just two points after the pursuers beat Norwich City 6-1 away but Sir Alex Ferguson’s flexed some muscle of their won by putting Villa away in front of a loyal Old Trafford crowd.

The first goal came in contentious circumstances when Ashley Young went down very easily under pressure from Ciaran Clark who had pulled out of the challenge only for the winger to make a meal of the minimal contact with referee Mark Halsey getting sucked in and pointing to the spot. Wayne Rooney stepped up and sent Shay Given the other to make it 1-0 after seven minutes.

Late in the first half, United doubled their lead when Danny Welbeck got on the end of a low Patrice Evra cross from the left wing which eluded all in the box for the striker to slide home at the back post.

With just over 15 minutes left, Rooney grabbed his second for the match, and 24th of the season, when he exchanged passes with Antonio Valencia before rifling a low shot past Given who had been wrong-footed by a deflection off James Collins.

Villa had been saved on a number of occasions by Given, who had come up with a handful of vital blocks to deny the home side, but he was unable to keep out Nani in injury time when the Portuguese squeezed in at the near post after latching onto lovely cushioned ball from Jonny Evans to wrap up the contest in emphatic style.

It was a swift reply from United who lost at Wigan Athletic in the week as they held up their end of the bargain in again going clear of City whilst Villa remain 15th following another disappointing result.

Manchester United: 4 (Wayne Rooney (p) 7’/74’, Danny Welbeck 43’, Nani 90+3’) Aston Villa: 0

Old Trafford, Manchester – 75,138

Yellow cards: MANU - Michael Carrick 9’, Paul Scholes 49’, Nani 90+2’ AV - Gary Gardner 38’, Alan Hutton 51’, Barry Bannan 90+1’

[mr_missile]

Four-star United ease past Villa

Manchester United pulled five points clear of title rivals City after easing to a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday.

But Ashley Young was branded "a disgrace" by fellow Premier League player Ryan Taylor after the United star was involved in yet another penalty controversy in the hammering of Villa.

Wayne Rooney converted the sixth-minute spot-kick and added another, with Danny Welbeck and Nani also on target as United responded in perfect fashion to Manchester City's six-goal salvo on Saturday to re-establish a five-point lead at the top of the table.

Villa remain in trouble, six points clear of third-bottom Bolton, who also have a game in hand.

But, with four games to go, it is the battle at the top that is concentrating minds, and the behaviour of Young that is provoking ire.

Seven days ago, the former Aston Villa man was at the centre of a diving row when he went down under minimal contact from Shaun Derry.

As the FA upheld Derry's suspension, Young's behaviour was excused, even if his reputation took a knock.

Now there will be more questions about his willingness to bend the rules.

Newcastle's Taylor led the chorus of disapproval, branding Young "an absolute disgrace" on Twitter, adding: "He's the biggest cheat in the league. His antics are a joke."

The comment was hastily removed, although not before reaction had flashed around the world.

England legend Gary Lineker suggested Young could end up with an unwanted reputation if he keeps reacting in this way.

In an era where forwards tend to go down under the slightest contact, Young's theatrical fall did come after he was touched by Ciaran Clark.

Not enough to tip the England man over, though, and the incident did Young little credit.

In the context of relieving the pressure in a title fight that has had new life injected into it by a combination of City finding their form again and United losing at Wigan, it was a present.

Rooney kept his nerve and sent Shay Given the wrong way.

It was his 30th goal of the season and the 10th time he has scored against Given, now top of the list of his favourite keepers.

United dominated thereafter. Given's reaction save denied Welbeck, recalled along with veteran midfielder Paul Scholes, who met two thunderous volleys perfectly.

Given kept out the first, the second whistled wide at astonishing speed.

Though clearly limited, Villa did enough to keep their band of supporters interested and both Clark and Stephen Ireland went close during rare counter-attacks.

United needed a second to calm any remaining nerves and Nathan Baker duly provided a gift shortly before the break.

In allowing Patrice Evra's low cross to run under his leg at the far-post, Baker presumably thought the ball was heading out for a goal-kick.

He was mistaken.

Instead, Welbeck slid in to nudge home from close range, his 11th goal of the season, but only his second since January.

It was a defensive lapse that has been so prominent in Villa's season to date and clearly the finishing line cannot come soon enough.

They do have some tricky hurdles to negotiate yet, though, including a home encounter with Bolton, and the loss of Clark, who was groggily helped off after trying to continue following an accidental clash with Patrice Evra, did not help matters.

His replacement, Emile Heskey, came closest for the visitors not long afterwards.

But after his header was tipped over by David de Gea, Rooney spurned a golden opportunity when he mis-hit a 10-yard effort and sent it bobbling harmlessly wide.

It was not long before another chance came Rooney's way.

And this time it ended up in the net, thanks to a significant deflection off James Collins.

Before Villa could restart, Rooney was replaced by Dimitar Berbatov.

It did not seem to be a change the striker was entirely in agreement with.

However, with the clock ticking down on Berbatov's mercurial United career, the home fans did welcome the Bulgarian enthusiastically.

It was Nani, who had been introduced for Young after an hour, who provided the final flourish, though, finishing Jonny Evans' lay-off in cool fashion before a trademark somersault celebration

[mr_missile]

Rooney out to be Best man

Rooney, who took his tally to 178, said: “Of course it would be great to surpass him. It will be a fine achievement that I’ll be proud of.

“I can’t really look at that. If it happens then great. I just have to keep myself focused on my game.”

Two more goals for the striker would mean only Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and Jack Rowley have scored more United goals than him.
But Rooney believes his biggest priority is making sure the champions keep rivals Manchester City at bay over the final month of the campaign.

He believes he has to do better and has another milestone in his sights.

The striker has 31 goals for the season — just three behind his best ever campaign in 2009-10.

But boss Alex Ferguson criticised some of his careless play against Villa and Rooney knows that, despite his two goals, his performance was not good enough.

He said: “I hope I can beat my best tally. It is the points that are important but if I can score goals to get those points then I’ll be delighted.

“At times against Villa I was disappointed with myself.

“I have to put that right. Obviously, I’m happy with the goals but the rest of my play wasn’t great.”

Rooney hopes for better when his old club and boyhood favourites Everton visit Old Trafford on Sunday.

United are five points ahead of neighbours City with four to play and things are building up nicely for the derby at the Etihad on April 30.

Rooney added: “If someone had said we’d be five points clear at this stage of the season a month or six weeks ago we’d have been delighted.

“Next week against Everton is a massive game. We need to get three points and that will make for an interesting night at City.”

Like Rooney, United were never at their best against Villa and were grateful to old-stager Paul Scholes for keeping them on course.

The 37-year-old has been a revelation since coming out of retirement in January — and Rooney has urged the midfielder to give it another season.

He said: “Everyone has seen the quality over the years. It’s just fantastic the way he keeps the ball for the team.

“He’s a big, important player for us and, hopefully, he’ll be here for a while.”

[mr_missile]

heard from some of my united kakis that there are news that united has agreed a deal to sign midfielder nicholas gaitan from benfica in the summer transfer window.

deal is worth 20m pounds cash plus fabio (loan a year) and macheda (permanent).

any bros can confirm this?

[yinyang]

Originally Posted by mr_missile

united has agreed a deal to sign midfielder nicholas gaitan from benfica in the summer transfer window.
deal is worth 20m pounds cash plus fabio (loan a year) and macheda (permanent). any bros can confirm this?

Yo, see rumor mill mon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/17724085

[mr_missile]

Originally Posted by yinyang

Yo, see rumor mill mon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/17724085

thks for the link bro. just a transfer gossip. gaitan is quite a good player. but i personally prefer eden hazard. or should united buy both? gaitan to eventually replace scholes and hazard taking over giggs?

[shysaint]

Papers: Reds top rich list

19/04/2012 09:30

Mike McGrath writes in The Sun...

United are world's richest

Manchester United have been named the world’s richest club again - and valued at a massive £1.39billion. The Premier League champions topped Forbes magazine’s list for the eighth year in a row following another successful year for manager Alex Ferguson’s men. But neighbours City have still not broken into the top 10 of the rankings, moving up just two places to 13th. The next highest English team after United were Arsenal in fourth, followed by Chelsea in seventh, eighth-placed Liverpool and Tottenham in 11th. Spanish giants Real Madrid are second in the table, followed by their La Liga rivals Barcelona. Germany’s Bayern Munich complete the top five. United landed £103.5million in commercial revenue alone last season. And the Glazer family, who own the club, are thought to be considering putting some of the club on Singapore’s stock exchange which would raise even more funds. United’s value dwarfs the estimated £276.5m of City and their Abu Dhabi owners, headed by Sheikh Mansour.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror claims United are stepping up a bid to sign Athletic Bilbao’s £26million-rated midfield dynamo Oscar de Marcos. Sir Alex is apparently sending his "top spy" to watch the powerful prospect in the first leg of Bilbao's Europa League semi-final against Sporting Lisbon in Portugal on Thursday. The Daily Star reckons United have revived their interest in Luka Modric. Sir Alex has made the £40m-rated Tottenham playmaker his top summer transfer target. And Starsport understands United are currently firm favourites to land the Croatian ahead of Chelsea and Manchester City.

Elsewhere, the Daily Mail reports that Reds youngster Bebe has been excluded from first-team training at loan club Besiktas and warned he may never play for them again after he stayed out late in a disco.

Extracts from Manutd.com

[A Red Devils]

please give ourselves a clap.

we will be champion again.

[mr_missile]

Ferguson: Derby a title decider

Sir Alex Ferguson says Manchester United have given Manchester City the initiative in the title race after a "giveaway" 4-4 draw with Everton.

And Ferguson has labelled next week's Manchester derby as the most important in his entire career after branding the April 30 encounter at the Etihad Stadium a "title decider".

Ten minutes from the end of Sunday afternoon's Old Trafford clash at Everton, it seemed United would be preparing for the ultimate act of revenge after that 6-1 mauling by the Blues in October.

But goals from Nikica Jelavic and Steven Pienaar secured a staggering 4-4 draw for Everton in the latest of a sequence of amazing results this season, which now mean United go to Manchester City knowing if they lose they will surrender the initiative completely.

"Yes, definitely," said Ferguson, when asked if it was the most important derby he has known. "We've given them the initiative, there is no doubt about that.

"It makes the game at the Etihad a really important game. A decider really.

"There has been an expectancy from City that it could be their decider, but it's our decider too."

Twice in the second half United established two-goal leads after initially falling behind to Jelavic's opener.

Wayne Rooney scored two more goals to take his seasonal tally to 33, one adrift of his best tally, and 190 overall, fourth on United's all-time list.

When Danny Welbeck and Nani scored in the space of two minutes around the hour mark, it appeared victory was secure.

But Ferguson was stunned by the collapse of a team that had kept six clear sheets in its previous seven games.

"There were defensive lapses," he said. "Their goals were really soft. It was a real shock for us to defend like that.

"It was a travesty of a result in some ways but we made it difficult for ourselves and if you look at our history we keep doing that.

"We've thrown a game away that we should be coasting. But we didn't so we have given ourselves a difficult task."

Everton manager David Moyes said he felt "insulted" his side's character should have been questioned, even though they twice found themselves two adrift just eight days after they were beaten by old rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final.

"I am really disappointed people would question their character," said Moyes.

"It is a bit insulting because I would hate to think people either wouldn't understand me or the culture of Everton FC.

"At 4-2, did I think we were going to get back into it? I thought it would be very tough.

"But I felt we would definitely score one more goal, it was whether there would be enough time to get an equaliser."

Moyes conceded his side enjoyed "a bit of luck" when Patrice Evra's header came back off the post before the late drama.

However, the Toffees chief was making no apologies given he was already furious referee Mike Jones had not halted play in the build-up to United's second goal for treatment to Steven Pienaar.

"I was moaning at the referee because he made a decision for them and didn't equal it up for us," he said.

"I couldn't understand it. It was a hard day from that point of view."

Moyes was delighted with the final outcome though, which keeps Everton on track to finish the season above Liverpool, in addition to providing an unexpected twist in the title battle.

"We have reminded people that we are still here," said Moyes.

"We are not a bad team. Since January we have been a very good team.

"When you lose a semi-final against your local rivals it is tough to take.

"The message today was that we were going to go toe-to-toe with Manchester United.

"Only in the last minute were we hanging on a little bit.

"But how many teams are going to get back into it from a position like that at Manchester United?

"It will make next week's game at Manchester City a bit more tidy."

[mr_missile]

Originally Posted by A Red Devils

please give ourselves a clap.

we will be champion again.

we just made our life very difficult last night, dropping 2 very unnecessary points. now we have to go to the ethihad stadium and avoid defeat against city.

[machoman]

Originally Posted by mr_missile

we just made our life very difficult last night, dropping 2 very unnecessary points. now we have to go to the ethihad stadium and avoid defeat against city.

Very disappointed in the defence last night.

From leading 4-2, they allowed Everton to score 2 goals in the last 10 mins.

[speedcat7]

Dun worry , Should be a draw for the Manchester derby on Mayday .

BTW , Can any bro up my points ?

I think some Liverpool idiot zap me to -1 ...

Thanks !

[mr_missile]

Originally Posted by machoman

Very disappointed in the defence last night.

From leading 4-2, they allowed Everton to score 2 goals in the last 10 mins.

yes bro. the defence just went to sleep after being 3-1 up and then 4-2. to let in 2 goals in the space of 3 mins and in the last 10 mins of the game is really really disappointing. i couldn't believe my eyes as everton came back to draw 4-4. heartbreaking game indeed.

[omnia]

think rio has to take quite alot responsibility for wat happened...if he continues like this n goes to euro12 in this kinda form think england in big trouble...united really seem to miss vidic at the mo...

As jimmy greaves use to say to ian st john..."its a funny old game saint!"...big game at the etihad mate!

Originally Posted by mr_missile

yes bro. the defence just went to sleep after being 3-1 up and then 4-2. to let in 2 goals in the space of 3 mins and in the last 10 mins of the game is really really disappointing. i couldn't believe my eyes as everton came back to draw 4-4. heartbreaking game indeed.

[badboynani17]

Originally Posted by machoman

Very disappointed in the defence last night.

From leading 4-2, they allowed Everton to score 2 goals in the last 10 mins.

It was a disappointing result! A good chance to open the goal difference but wasted...!

Think they really switched off in the last 10 mins. They thought they have won the game but didn't expect Everton to whack in another 2 goals within the last 10 mins.

Cross my fingers, at least a draw against Man City...