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. Click to continue reading...

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? Click to continue reading...

"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. Click to continue reading...

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'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. Click to continue reading...

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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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. Click to continue reading...

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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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. Click to continue reading...

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). Click to continue reading...

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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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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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 nine
Magic. Click to continue reading...

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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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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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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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). Click to continue reading...

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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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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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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...