ManUnited Echo

Manchester United Classic Goals #5

2012-02-02T22:40:00.001+01:00

Here is one of the more important ones from the CL semi-final 2008. Scholes with the significant winner vs. Barcelona, that secured the place in the final vs. Chelsea.

Anyway: Brilliant to have Scholes back! He is going to be essential in the second part of the season and in the quest of retaining the PL title...

Man United Classic Matches: European Champions Final 1968 vs. Benfica

2012-01-27T22:35:00.001+01:00

Here is one of the finest moments in Man United´s history: Matt Busby manager. The team included legendary players like George Best, Bobby Charlton and Alex Stepney (the classy Denis Law was injured in this match). The European Cup Final between Manchester United and Benfica, which at this point included the great Eusébio in the team.

Sir Bobby Charlton scored the first goal of the game, but with Benfica getting an equalizer. The intensity was exceptional and at a crucial time in the game, the Man United´s goalkeeper, Alex Stepney made a spectacular one-on-one save from Eusébio - the game went into extra time. At this point the players fitness clearly was effecting the play. Then George the wizard Best took the lead for Man U, and later on the 19 year old Brian Kidd extended the lead before Bobby Charlton finalized the deal by scoring the fourth.

The Champions Cup was headed to Old Trafford for the first time in history - but not the last :-)

Anniversary! Cantona's Kung Fu Kick.

2012-01-25T20:40:00.001+01:00

Today marks the 17 year old anniversary of one of the most (in)famous moments in our clubs recent history, Eric Cantonas Kung Fu kick!!! The scene for this world famous spectacle was Selhurst Park in London on January 25th 1995. Manchester United were playing Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

In the 61st minute of the game the King got the red card and as he was walking off the pitch all hell broke loose!!!

Photographer Steve Lindsell managed to take a photograph of the Kung Fu kick, which appeared on the cover of all of the UK's newspapers on the next day (and around the world as well). He described the episode like this: "I was placed on the other side of the pitch and was just following Cantona on through the lens of my camera when he was sent off," said Lindsell. "Suddenly he just jumped over the fence and kicked a guy! I clicked and clicked on the camera. I thought I had managed to get decent picture, but I could never imagine that it would have so much impact as it did. I went to my car outside Selhurst Park, printed out the pictures and sent them to the newspapers. The next day they were everywhere." After the kick, Cantona was escorted off the pitch by Peter Schmeichel, with his head held high.

King Eric got sentenced two weeks in prison for the assault, which was later converted to 120 hours of community service, which he fulfilled by coaching kids in football. The FA gave him four-month ban that would last until the end of the season, but the ban was extended to eight months.

Most part of the above is based on the book "Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King" by Philippe Auclair.

Manchester United Classic Goals#4

2012-01-20T20:51:00.001+01:00

Here is one that I will never forget! FA Cup final vs. Liverpool in 1996. There are 85 very intense and hectic minutes played at this point; Cantona first on the ball after a bad punch from David James, and with a touch of brilliance and an excellent composure, Eric the King hammered the ball in the net from the edge of the penalty box. This victory secured United´s second double in three seasons. Hail the King:

The most memorable for me personally about this particular goal, is that my brother, who is a die hard Liverpool fan, stormed out of the house, got into our fathers car and disappeared in haze down the street with a sound of thunder. For the way the match had been played until that moment, it was quite obvious that there only would take a single goal to win it... - as it indeed turned out to be in the end :-)

Manchester United Great Goals #3

2012-01-17T22:53:00.000+01:00

This is surely one of my favorites: Ryan Giggs vs. Arsenal in the FA-Cup semi-final at Villa Park in April 1999. With 10 men, United go on to secure the place in the final with this magnificent extra time goal! Brilliant. One to watch over and over again...

...and the rest is history: Man United went on to win the famous treble later this spring of 1999!!!

Manchester United Classic Goals #2

2012-01-11T22:50:00.002+01:00

Here is a brilliant one: Wayne Rooney overhead kick that wins the match against the "noisy neighbours" in february 2011:

Manchester United Classic Goals #1

2012-01-03T20:12:00.003+01:00

Every week we will present one unforgettable Man United goal on this site. To kick off this new series, here is one that true fans can watch over and over again. And for those of you out there who watched the Champions League Final back in 1999, it surely brings back memories of one of the greatest moments in our beloved clubs history: The completion of the treble!!!

Let me introduce Man United Classic goal #1: Ole Gunnar Solskjær´s overtime winner against Bayern Munich, in 1999:

Top 10 Most games played for Manchester United

2012-01-02T22:02:00.002+01:00

#	Name	Carreer	Games
1	Ryan Giggs	1991 – today!	875
2	Bobby Charlton	1956 – 1973	758
3	Bill Foulkes	1952 – 1970	688
4	Paul Scholes	1994 – 2011	674
5	Gary Neville	1992 – 2011	602
6	Alex Stepney	1966 – 1978	539
7	Tony Dunne	1960 – 1973	535
8	Denis Irwin	1990 – 2002	529
9	Joe Spence	1919 – 1933	510
10	Arthur Albiston	1974 – 1988	485

What the Fu....!!!!???

2011-12-31T18:25:00.001+01:00

Against Blackburn at OT!!!! This of course only supports what I have written before: Our current squad is not strong enough to retain the PL title, and surely not capable of pushing for glory in the CL! So I only hope that this embarrassment on the last day of 2011 (Sir Alex Ferguson´s birthday!) is making our management realize what action is necessary in the new year: Bringing in new world class midfield players!!! And making use of the January transfer window would not be too soon!!!

Sneijder signing for Manchester United in January!!!

2011-12-29T14:59:00.000+01:00

Yes these are rumours of course, but who knows... And how about adding Modric to the squad as well in the summer?
Sneijder on his way to Old Trafford in January

5-0 AGAIN!

2011-12-28T00:26:00.001+01:00

Ok. We are closing in on our bitter rivals!!! Another 5-0 victory against Wigan last night!!! Now it is a matter of goalscore. There is still a lot of points to play for until May, and in Fergie we trust, so yes, things look ok. Here are the highlights of the the great win against Wigan:
Man United vs. Wigan 5-0 vs - Wigan 5-0 Video Highlights

Fulham-ManU 0-5 Video Highlights!!!

2011-12-21T23:26:00.002+01:00

Great win against the Cottagers in London tonight. Ryan Giggs got himself on the scoresheet to maintain his unbeatable record of having now scored in every Premier League season so far!!! See that one plus all the other great goals from wednesday's fixture here:
http://www.goalsarena.org-Fulham-Manchester United 0-5-21.12.2011

The weekly poll: The biggest game of the season?

2011-12-19T22:58:00.001+01:00

Everybody has an opinion about this one! Against which team in the Premier League season does the chill-factor reach its peak, and produce the greatest tension to the nerves??? Vote in the weekly poll, and feel free to comment if you have anything to add to this post...

Biggest Man United Flop of all time?

2011-12-12T21:46:00.001+01:00

Well, not all of Sir Alex´s signings have been excellent. A few of the obvious nominees to the title "Biggest Man Utd flop of all time" are named in the poll of the week on the right.
Please cast your vote. This list could of course be longer, so if anyone can think of another potential candidate/candidates, please post it as a comment to this post. How about bad United-signings before the Ferguson-era? Any bids?

Disaster, or not???

2011-12-10T15:39:00.001+01:00

Exit from CL allready in the group stage! Well, I guess we did not really expect to advance from this group of death with such world class opponents like Benfica and Basel:-)

Anyway, with the current squad, I think this is for the best as we do not stand any chance of pushing for glory in this competition. No this is not bad at all since now it should become clear to all, that we NEED stronger options in midfield, if we want to stand a chance of measuring up against teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munchen...

Personally, I think this could indeed, be blessing in disguise, as I am sure it will put pressure on our management to put in an extra effort to sign world class players sooner than later!

Schmeichel fired!!!!

2011-12-06T22:26:00.004+01:00

Former Reds-legend, Peter Schmeichel, has been fired from his job as a host for Champions League television program on the danish TV-station TV3+. According to various former colleagues it was very difficult to work with Schmeichel, his ego was huge and he was very preoccupied with himself. "He has grown as a TV person, but never reached into the hearts of television viewers," said one colleague.

Schmeichel was enormously demanding and critical towards people he worked with, and was in various conflicts with his supervisors.

Schmeichel was of course arguably considered one of the best goalkeeper of all time to ever wear the United shirt. Aside from all of the titles he won with ManUnited, he was in the Danish national team that very surprisingly won the European Championships in 1992.

Well well Peter: To us that indeed consider you as one of the all time greats, this comes as a no surprise:-) One character skill that works well when guarding the goal for our great club, is not necessarily one that benefits you in other "common" jobs...

Top of my January Transfer-wish list: Wesley Sneijder!!!

2011-12-04T23:49:00.002+01:00

Transfer thoughts

2011-12-04T13:08:00.005+01:00

January transfer window approaching fast! Who should we buy? Who should we get rid of?

There are those of us that indeed question the strength of our squad, here is one of those views:
http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=goal-ruudgullitifiwasamanchester

Post your thoughts below and vote for your wish list to the right.
Those who vote for "Another player": Please post the name of that player/players in the comments below...