Manchester United's Brazilian midfielder Anderson has revealed that for the past few months he's been functioning as the club's babysitter for new signing Bébé. Bébé joined the club from Portuguese football's lower divisions, and to help ease his transition to England he's been staying with Anderson.

Mano Menezes

Mano Manezes has called up 23 players for the game versus France in the Stade de France.
Keeper Julio César returns but there's still no place for Maicon, Juan, Lúcio and Kaká. The younger players, such as Neymar, who are currently appearing for Brazil's U-20s in Peru, have also not been called up.

Rio Ferdinand has kept himself entertained on the journey back from West Brom by Twittering.

Anderson wanted to pass a message along to the supporters via Rio: "Nice one and Happy New Year to you all" thumbs up for the result!

Rio also reflected on the game and the penalty he gave away, which fortunately was put wide by Odemwingie.

Anderson has revealed that he still feels some discomfort with his knee following his long term injury but that his fitness is much improved.

Our midfielder acknowledges that good fitness is a priority in the Premiership but that it shouldn't be the be all and end all.

"Of course it's a priority, but I think it's more important to make the ball do the work," he said.

If I could read the minds of players, this could (or should) be some of their new year's resolutions:

Ando: I resolve to keep playing like a raging bull in the middle of the field and stay after practice to work on my shooting and finishing in the box.

Berba: I resolve to stay positive even when if I get dropped to the bench after scoring a million goals in one game.

These statistics compare the passing success of Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas, Paul Scholes and Anderson in the games they've played against each other for Manchester United and Arsenal.

The stats are taken from all the games where at least two of the three players featured and show how many passes per minute were successfully completed, as well as what percentage of their attempted passes were completed.

Just like with Nani before him, Sir Alex Ferguson has rescued Anderson's Manchester United career after bad attitude and a lengthy injury threatened to end it.

"Sir Alex has always offered me advice from the day I arrived, in the good and the bad moments," said Anderson. "Many times he was unhappy with my work but that only added extra incentive to me.

Anderson has claimed that he wants to see out most of his career at Manchester United before returning to his first club in Brazil, Gremio.

"I want to make history here," said Anderson. "I look at players like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and I want to do what they have done. I want to remain here until just before the end of my career.

You know your hairstyle means too much when... Manchester United midfielder Anderson has revealed he won't be shaving off his dreadlocks any time soon. It turns out he is rather attached to his distinctive 'do. While his manager Sir Alex Ferguson might disagree on footballing grounds, 'Samson' Anderson reckons removing his dreads would be tantamount [.

Anderson has revealed that he has helped our summer signing Bébé adjust to life in England, just as fellow Portuguese speaker Cristiano Ronaldo helped him when he joined the club.

"He stayed with me for two months," Anderson said. "I can tell you, he eats a lot. He ate all my food!

And so by the skin of our teeth and thanks to some inspired Berbatov magic, the incredible unbeaten run of the "Crap Invincibles" continues. Based on our first half display, the tag is well...
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Impressions (some are more rants):

1. How much more time do we give Gibson before completely writing him off? I've been saying (to myself as much as to anyone else) that we should temper our frustration at the younger players with an understanding that they need to mature into their positions and understanding of the game.