Archive | September, 2010

Player Ratings: Valencia v Manchester United

Manchester United Starting XI: Van der Sar – 6: Flapped at one cross, but otherwise had little to do. Rafael – 7: The word mature has been branded about regarding Rafael’s performance – fairly accurate. Tempered his natural attacking instinct and showed greater responsibility in defensive situations. He surely must be allowed an opportunity to [...]

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Match Preview: Valencia CF vs. Manchester United

After a disappointing result/performance against Glasgow Rangers in Game Week One of Champions League, Manchester United will be hoping to bounce back when they face Valencia at the Mestalla on Wednesday. Info on Valencia: Valencia are currently top of Group C after romping to a 4-0 victory over Bursaspor. Despite losing David Villa and David [...]

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Solution To United’s Leaky Defence?

The old cliché “you can win games with attacking football, but a good defence will win the league title” is rearing its ugly head. Look no further than the league campaign of 2007-08 to highlight this point when Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra were virtually ever present and alongside Michael Carrick, [...]

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Match Preview: Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United

Manchester United travel the M61 to face local rivals Bolton Wanderers on Sunday in a high noon kick off. In last season’s fixture Man United claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory with goals from that man Own Goal, Darron Gibson and Dimitar Berbatov grabbing a brace. The first half was relatively quiet with both teams lacking [...]

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Player Ratings: Scunthorpe United vs. Manchester United

Starting XI: Kuszczak – 7: Plenty of work to enjoy – dealt with numerous shots from Scunthorpe – including a couple of good saves. Future Manchester United No.1? I have doubts – he is a good shot stopper, but questions surround his ability to claim crosses and poor distribution. Brown – 6: Did okay – [...]

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Answer To The Left Wing Dilemma?

When Antonio Valencia suffered the horrific injury against Glasgow Rangers the immediate thought was to his wellbeing and wishing him a speedy recovery. Later, questions were starting to be asked on how the team would line up in his absence. The positive view is Nani will be allowed to ply his trade on the favoured [...]

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Player Ratings v Liverpool

Starting XI Van der Sar – 6: Quiet game for Edwin – Liverpool only had two shots on target all game. Little he could do for either goal. Not his fault Fletcher jumped out of the way for Gerrard’s freekick. O’Shea – 6: A better performance, but still not convincing. Gave away freekick for equaliser. [...]

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Pre-match Discussion: Manchester United v Liverpool

Manchester United face Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday in what is one of the fixtures in the football calendar. The match requires little introduction – one of the games I look for when Man United’s fixtures are released for the new season (Manchester City being the first then Liverpool). What should we expect from [...]

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Player Ratings v Glasgow Rangers

Manchester United struggled to breakdown a determined Glasgow Rangers. Sir Alex Ferguson has come in for plenty of criticism after making wholesale changes to the team that started against. Personally, I think the players involved deserve greater criticism as the team featured several experienced players with International experience.  The players had an opportunity to impress [...]

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Match Preview: Manchester United v Glasgow Rangers

Manchester United host Glasgow Rangers in what is being billed as the ‘Battle of Britain’. The two clubs have met on twice when both were drawn together in the group stage of the Champions League in 2003-04. United won both games, the first a 1-0 victory at Ibrox with a goal from Phillip Neville and [...]

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