dioforce. 12 November @ 03:08 PM EST
When Owen Hargreaves finally returns from injury, in what may be his last chance to achieve his
prime, United manager Alex Ferguson can again field his strongest midfield.
But the Englishman, so influential in United's 2008 European double-winning season, is not the only
significant addition required to create United's most balanced side.
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The England squad to play Brazil next Saturday in an International friendly has been announced. The
main news for
Man United is that Michael Owen has yet again not been included in the squad.
This isn't much of a surprise, he hasn't played that much for United, so why would he get into the
England squad?
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"Look at Nani - his free kick goes right into the wall, again!"
It's been all doom
and gloom for Liverpool over the past few weeks - the losses keep mounting, as do the injuries -
and the club finds itself in its most precarious state in years.
On the other hand, Chelsea are being touted as "Champions" before we've even hit December, and with
over six months of football still to be played, it seems as if journalists, bloggers, and pundits
alike are claiming that The Blues have what it takes to win it all.
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bridge views 09 November @ 07:00 AM EST
I've made it clear in recent weeks that Chelsea's November fixtures against Man Utd and Arsenal
will give the clearest indication so far of the strength of Chelsea's challenge this season. As it
was, Chelsea came through the first of those tests yesterday – but without flying colours.
To have expected flying colours would have been wishful thinking however.
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bridge views 09 November @ 07:00 AM EST
I've made it clear in recent weeks that Chelsea's November fixtures against Man Utd and Arsenal
will give the clearest indication so far of the strength of Chelsea's challenge this season. As it
was, Chelsea came through the first of those tests yesterday – but without flying colours.
To have expected flying colours would have been wishful thinking however.
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I said in my preview post posted earlier today that it was a big game and a chance for us to
establish a 5-point gap at the top of the table, and after a scrappy, hard fought and closer than
expected game, we managed it through a great Barcelona at home header from JT.
Chelsea lined up as expected with Ivanovic at right back, JT, Carvalho and Ashley Cole at the back,
Cech in goal of course.
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Patrick Barclay writes a nice piece for The Times about our manager.
Red Rants takes a look at the poppy fuss.
The Guardian looks at Darren Fletcher as the new Roy Keane.
The Times reckons Michael Owen needs a good game today to get in the England squad.
United Rant looks to the Chelsea game.
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SoccerLens 07 November @ 04:37 AM EST
Chelsea v Manchester United
English Premier League
Sunday, 08 November, 2009
Stamford Bridge
The last 5 titles in the Premier League have been shared by Manchester United and Chelsea, and
as the two best sides in England go head to head on Sunday, it's bound to be a memorable game no
matter what the outcome.
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Over the next few days bloggers far and near are going to be offering up their opinions on
the MLS Year End Awards nominations.
The main reason for this isn't that they honestly care that much. Almost no one really does.
But for a blogger - and I know whereof I speak - this provides one of the "automatic topics", like
the traditional six part "Preseason Preview" or more recent "Playoff Preview", whose main value is
to relieve the author of the nerve wracking chore of coming up with something to write about.
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Red Rants 03 November @ 02:50 AM EST
Darren Fletcher is expected to return to a side beset with absentees to injuries and personal
reasons. The manager took time out to shower yet more praise on Fletcher.
"Most people now recognise Darren Fletcher as a big-game player," said Ferguson. "We have been
aware of that for quite a while.
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Arsereview 01 November @ 01:52 PM EST
Count the years off one by one. Every single year in this decade we have played Spurs home and away
in the League. And out of twenty matches we haven't lost a single one. Not a single one.
Even if we had lost one, we could still reflect on the annual difference between the teams shown by
the League table.
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In the midst of the Alonso summer saga, I posted the results from different midfield pairings.
Lucas/Mascherano's line looked like this:
6 wins, 4 draws
2-0 West Brom, 3-0 West Ham, 4-1 United, 1-1 City, 1-1 Wigan, 0-0 Stoke, 5-1 Newcastle, 3-1 PSV
[4-4-2], 0-0 Fulham [4-4-2], 2-1 Marseille
Let's ignore the PSV and Fulham games because of the 4-4-2 formation in Gerrard's absence (and
Torres' against PSV).
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What is the Perfect remedy for a Liverpool team that has lost against a team like Sunderland, by
a goal scored by Beach B? Simple. Put them against the Mancs.
In recent years, the end of October meant Liverpool were top of the table and by some series of
ill-fated events they start sliding towards the wrong side and find themselves in troubled
waters.
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Red Rants 26 October @ 12:34 AM EST
Let's make no pretence about this: we were beaten fair and square by Liverpool. We can talk all
we want about refereeing incompetence; true there were a few errors but the crucial ones were
offset on the other side too. Nothing however disguises the fact that yesterday was a defeat that
was fully deserved.
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Blog United 25 October @ 01:44 PM EST
Yes the ref was lousy, but don't let that mask what was a terrible performance across the pitch
by what could only bee described as a toothless United team at Anfield on Sunday. The final score
of 2 – 0 didn't flatter the home team as they notched up their third win in a row between the
local rivals.
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Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Mascherano Lucas
Benayoun Kuyt Aurelio
Torres
Goals:Torres 65'
Ngog 90+6'
His armband proved he was a Red, Torres, Torres
‘You'll Never Walk Alone' it said, Torres, Torres
We bought the lad from sunny Spain
He gets the ball and scores again
Fernando Torres, Liverpool's number nineMagic.
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Liverpool:
-Reina
Johnson-Carragher-Agger-Insua
Mascherano Lucas -
Benayoun Aurelio
-Kuyt -
Torres -
Bench: Cavalieri, Voronin, Babel, Ngog, Spearing, Degen, Skrtel
Manchester United:
Van der Sar
O'Shea Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Valencia Carrick Scholes Giggs
Berbatov Rooney
Bench: Foster, Neville, Owen, Anderson, Nani, Fabio Da Silva, Jonathan Evans
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Whatever happened to the 'Golden Generation'? They seemed to kick up a fuss a few years ago
without ever doing anything. They even gained a reputation by not winning anything. Apparently Sven
wasted them and we missed our chance.
Another ‘Golden Generation' knocked them out on penalties in 2004 and they didn't win
anything.
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Scoring a goal, some would have us believe, is better than sex. It is an old saying that has
done the rounds over the years. The elation, the surge in adrenalin, the massive high felt by the
goal scorer is all comparable I suppose. Hopefully, your mates only come and jump on you after
scoring a goal and you probably would not light up a fag after putting one in the onion.
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Do excuse me while I momentarily don my England hat: this missive, from one of the souls
frequently to be found loitering around AANP Towers, appeared on football365.com earlier today:
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Rio's concentration lapse, the curious manner in which Green
was sent off, the withdrawal of Lennon and the fact that we lost, it strikes me as far more useful
than if we'd played with 11 and coasted to a comfy victory.
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Red Rants 06 October @ 09:40 PM EST
Some links to get you through the day:
1. Ferguson is in a row with Foster, apparently. No quotes to back it up, but it's quite
possible Ferguson might have been annoyed with the way Kenwyne Jones' goal was conceded. He was
angry at many things following the Sunderland game, he would have picked a fight with a priest.
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Blog United 05 October @ 01:51 PM EST
Last season, after a 2 – 1 defeat away to Arsenal, United went on something of a clean sheet
frenzy. 1,334 minutes of Premier League football were subsequently played and not a solitary goal
was conceded. In the entire season, the defence was only breached 24 times and it was due to this
we won the league for the third consecutive season.
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After making some big mistakes over recent matches, you wouldn't have been surprised if Ben Foster
was left out of the England squad. Right now he has no confidence and he doesn't need to damage
it...
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After making some big mistakes over recent matches, you wouldn't have been surprised if
Ben
Foster was left out of the
England squad. Right now he has no confidence and he doesn't
need to damage it anymore.
Foster has been left out of the England squad but he has been left out due to injury.
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Fabio Capello, England National Team manager, has named the 24-man squad for the upcoming UEFA
World Cup Qualifiers against Ukraine and Belarus. England has already qualified for next summer's
2010 World Cup Finals on South Africa. There's little change from the last few months. Here's the
full roster.
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Michael Carrick hasn't started as many games as he would have liked so far this season but he is
patient and he has faith in the manager. Carrick has started only two Premier League matches so
far...
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Michael Carrick hasn't started as many games as he would have liked so far this season but
he is patient and he has faith in the manager. Carrick has started only two Premier League matches
so far this season but after scoring in the Champion's League midweek, hopefully it will kick start
his season.
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After last nights win over Wolfsburg there has been lots of praise for the midfield and Dimitar
Berbatov. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes that Anderson and Michael Carrick were key to
United's...
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After last nights win over
Wolfsburg there has been lots of praise for the midfield and
Dimitar Berbatov. Manager
Sir Alex Ferguson believes that
Anderson and
Michael
Carrick were key to United's win.
Anderson had a good night in midfield and Carrick scored the winner.
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Si è conclusa ieri sera la seconda giornata di Champions League e, come al solito, le sorprese, i
gol e ele emozioni non sono mancate. Partiamo dal Girone A, dove il fortino bianconero regge
l'assalto dei bavaresi di Van Gaal e porta a casa un prezioso punticino (il secondo dopo il pari
rimediato con il Bordeaux).
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Did you catch that phenomenal interview he did with FC Dallas Captain Pablo Ricchetti? So much is
striking about the piece, from Carrick's non-intrusive, open-ended questions, the player's brutally
honest and heartfelt answers, to Carrick's commentary at the end.
How are you feeling?
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Red Rants 02 September @ 11:30 AM EST
United have released a list of their Champions' League squad members, and importantly, Owen
Hargreaves is a part of it. The 25-man squad also includes Kiko Macheda, Gabriel Obertan and Darron
Gibson. However, Anderson has been relegated to the secondary list of additional 10 members which
includes Welbeck and Evans.
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Owen Hargreaves has been named in Manchester United's 25-man Champions League squad, as has new
signing Obertan and plenty of youngsters, but there is no place for Zoran Tosic.
The Serbian winger featured heavily in our pre-season but hasn't played for United since the
friendly at Old Trafford at the beginning of August.
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Goonerboy 31 August @ 05:21 AM EST
It was a tough game to take on Saturday. On seeing United's line-up I immediately felt we could win
the game - Nani, Valencia, a fading Giggs, O'Shea, Carrick, Brown: these were players we could
beat.
And so it initially appeared. In the opening half we dominated the game and deserved to go in ahead
at the break.
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The Positives: Man utd. won the game. How exactly? I have no freaking clue. They were outclassed
and outplayed. They held possession of the ball at times but did absolutely nothing going forward
with it most of the time. They simply lacked the creativity to break down the Arsenal defense. Yet
they won.
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