Porthmouth themselves helped put United out on top with “own-goals” by players: Anthony Vanden Borre and Marc Wilson, while a deflection off Richard Hughes assisted United’s third goal.

United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar made a fine save from Anthony Vanden Borre’s quick 13th minute shot, while Jonny Evans cleared Nadir Belhadj’s 28 minute drive off the line.

Portsmouth’s marking was inferior in the 40th minute when Darren Fletcher crossed from the right and Wayne Rooney nipped in between two defenders and goal keeper David James to head home from four yards.

It was Rooney’s 21st league, and 23rd overall goal, of the season and the England star played his part in the second goal in the dying seconds of the first half.

Rooney’s crisp pass found Nani on the left side of the Portsmouth box and his well thought out shot from ten yards was deflected off Vanden Borre into the net, with James also getting a touch before the ball crossed the line at the near post.

Things went from bad to worse for Portsmouth in the 59th minute when Michael Carrick’s 22-yard shot was deflected in off Hughes, with the ball going in off the underside of the bar.

Dimitar Berbatov, who missed a first-half sitter from six yards, showed great skill when he toyed with Tal Ben Haim in the Portsmouth’s penalty area before scoring with a low shot from 15 yards.

Portmouth’s troubles peaked in United’s fifth goal in the 69th minute. Nani headed on Patrice Evra’s cross from the left and Wilson, attempted to clear, hammered the ball into the roof of his own net from six yards.

It was a very exciting game to watch, and a long waited game against Portsmouth. The next game is on Feb. 10th against Aston Villa.

Bookmark This Post

Last games victory against Arsenal, we expected no less from Rooney for the outstanding goal putting the match out of Arsenal’s reach. However, it was the United vs. Hull City game that had he had the highlight of the month, he scored 4 goals that game, for the 4-0 win. Rooney has now scored 20 goals, in just 23 matches this season.

Rooney has now won Barclay’s Player of the Month award 5 times, placing him level with Steven Gerrard; as the player with the highest number of individual monthly awards. We expect many more to come.

Bookmark This Post

Seemingly in response to his own poor judgement and poorer attitude, the Manchester United boss has banished the Brazilian midfielder to play with the reserve team this week. In late January, Anderson reportedly missed practice and Sir Alex fined him a whopping £80,000 for missing the training session. He was then left out of the squad that faced Hull City that weekend, and hasn’t been seen in the first team since the first leg of the League Cup semi-final.

The 21 year old has had a rocky season and has not been afraid to voice is discontent with the amount of playing time he has received, which has led to several reported incidents where he has butted heads with the Gaffer. It has also been widely rumored that Anderson was to go out on loan in the January transfer window to either Lyon or Paris Saint-Germain, but he was held back as an insurance policy against the seeming non-recovery of Owen Hargreaves. Perhaps this lack of a loan deal was what triggered Anderson’s latest tantrum and conflict with Sir Alex.

It is important to note that Thursday’s reserve assignment, could have been just that, an assignment to help keep him fit since he has not played for 3 matches. It could also have been intended to send a message and signal the beginning of the end for midfielder that has showed so much promise. Let’s hope Anderson can ride out this tumultuous period, learn from it, and move on. I believe he could be a fixture in the midfield for many years to come if he can find some consistency and learn to be coached.

Bookmark This Post

The incident happened in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final match between Manchester City and Manchester United on January 19. The camera showed Tevez mouthing and making hand gestures toward the touch line after scoring a goal. What most cameras missed was the gesture by Neville that sparked Tevez’s reaction.

Following the incident, the FA vowed to look into the incident, but in the end no action was taken. That didn’t stop Sir Alex Ferguson from taking his own action against the defender however. Neville was scratched completely from the roster and was not allowed to travel to the game versus Arsenal.

Sir Alex was so enraged by the incident that he even banned the reporters of the television channel, that were showing the exchange repeatedly, from his Press conferences.

We have yet to see whether the snubbing of Neville will continue into this weekend’s match, although Gary has rarely been first choice for much of the season, so it’s hard to tell what is really happening. Perhaps the reports are being blown out of proportion or taken out of context. Either way, he will be retiring at the end of the season and I hope this is not what he will be remembered for.

Bookmark This Post

I don’t know about you, but I am not convinced that the current roster is good enough to push for either the premiership title, or a Champions League title. So, what has Sir Alex and the Glaziers done to help the squad? Squat. It’s hard to know what goes on behind closed doors, but it appears that the Manchester United organization has sat on their hands for the entire month and done nothing to help the team.

Sure, they signed Chris Smalling, but he is staying with Fulham for the rest of the season and will not help them this year – if ever.

What other moves? All moves AWAY from Old Trafford:
Zoran Tosic (Cologne, loan) Danny Welbeck (Preston North End, loan), Danny Simpson (Newcastle United, undisclosed)

Just not enough was done in my opinion. What’s yours?

Bookmark This Post

Initially Rio was banned for 3 games for his violent conduct in the recent game against Hull City, which was extended to 4 because of the “frivolous” nature of the appeal. See, Rio Ferdinand Banned for 3, Wait 4 Games.

Manchester boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, is going to ask the FA to set aside the last match that was added in attempt to get the central defender available to play against Everton on February 20.

The FA have the ability to add a 5th game to the ban if it chooses to do so. Let’s hope they don’t see this appeal as frivolous an try to teach Sir Alex a lesson by increasing the ban to its maximum.

Bookmark This Post

Nani opened the scoring at Emirates Stadium on 33 minutes when his chip across goal was palmed in by Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia. Nani had a brilliant run, and It would be harsh to blame Almunia for that goal – if he hadn’t tried to tip the ball over the bar, Rooney and Park were inching up behind him and one of them would almost certainly have scored with a header from six inches.

Rooney had an excellent goal, starting the move by finding Nani in his own half and then sweeping home the Portugal winger’s cross to make it 2-0 on the board. “Rooney was unbelievable. He was the key player and they couldn’t handle him,” said Ferguson, after the game.

Park chases from his own half into an an almost empty Arsenal half. He controls the ball and keeps going and going until he’s within shooting range, then nicely kicks the ball home from about 10 yards and puts United up 3-0 over Arsenal.

Vermaelen scores from the edge of the penalty area with an acrobatic scissors-kick that takes a deflection off Carrick and past the understandably wrong footed Van der Sar for a goal, putting Arsenal on the board.

United go close to scoring their fourth goal during stoppage time. Valencia ran down the right and squared the ball from Berbatov at the far post. His lead footed first touch took the ball too far away from him, but it broke kindly for Rooney, who shot wide when it seemed easier to score. Very shortly after Chris Foy ends the game with 3 long blows on his whistle.

United’s next game is against Portsmouth on Febuary 6th.

Bookmark This Post

“Chris is an extremely talented young defender, who we have been monitoring for some months”, said Ferguson. “He is very quick and reads the game well. He will be a great asset to the club, playing alongside some of the best defenders around and we are delighted to have secured his signature.”

Smalling has gone far for such a young age, and is very grateful for the chance in playing for United, and with his elite performances on the field, United should be lucky to have him.

Bookmark This Post

Ferguson said, “If he gets a fair hearing Rio has a good chance. He was getting wrestled and punched. There were all sorts of things happening. He was just trying to get himself free of it and unfortunately caught the lad on the back of the neck.”

Ferdinand stated that any contact with Fagan was accidental. But he failed to convince the FA’s disciplinary panel. It was said that Steve Bennett, the referee of the match did not see any of this, but he has stated if he did, Ferdinand would have been sent off immediately.

The result in the case means Ferdinand will miss out on the match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. He will also have to sit out against Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Everton. But fortunately, Ferdinand will be able to play in the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley on February 28.

Bookmark This Post

The Red Devils came into this second-leg semi-final carrying a deficit, on aggregate, after having been defeated at Eastlands 2-1, January 19.

As expected, United started the game looking for an early goal, pressing forward at all opportunities, but they were faced with a challenge as City sat back and looked for the quick counter attack.

The first half ended scoreless despite several opportunities from both sides.

The second half started in “reverse fashion”, with City coming out all-guns blazing and Micah Richards forcing a save from Van der Sar with a left-footed drive. Then, on 50 minutes, came the Craig Bellamy incident. City had earned a corner-kick, but when Bellamy went to take it, the fans began throwing things at him. The Welshman was ultimately not seriously injured by the coin that struck him soundly in the back of the head, but play was halted while order was restored. Van der Sar stepped in to shield the striker while cleaning up the debris, and glowering at the fans. The repercussions of this violence will undoubtedly be stiff financial penalties levied against the club, but the positive outcome is that the bottles that were hurled missed their mark and Bellamy was ultimately able to continue play.

In the 52nd minute, Giggs picked out Nani making a supporting run up the center. The Portuguese national worked his way into the box, but was stood-up by by the defense and the ball trickled slowly away from him. Carrick stepped in and poked the back toward Paul Scholes who buried the ball in the lower left corner. This brought the score to 2-2 on aggregate and while there would have still been Extra Time to play if the score held, Manchester would have avoided a penalty shootout because of the “away goal” rule.

United looked to avoid Extra Time, winning it outright, by making it 2-0 on 71 minutes (3-2 on aggregate). Michael Carrick latched on to a ball poked back by Fletcher just outside the six, and side-footed it into the bottom left.

Rooney, the top scorer on the team with 19 goals in 22 matches, missed a sitter when he put Patrice Evra’s low cross wide from close range, and it could have cost United dearly had they not ultimately gone on to win the match.

In the 76th minute, Tevez (who scored both of City’s goals in the first leg) pulled one back to level overall with an audacious flick as he spun around Ferdinand to send Bellamy’s cross into the bottom left. This gave City a precious away goal and meant extra time an penalties if the score held.

With nine minutes left, Carrick missed a great chance to put the cup tie to bed again, when he fired wide after the ball broke kindly to him near the penalty spot.

In stoppage time, Giggs picked out Rooney with a cross, who headed past Shay Given – rooted to his line – where the ball nestled into the left-hand side of the goal.

The Red Devils only had to hold the lead for about a minute and a half before the Full Time whistle blew, which they did.

United will now compete against Aston Villa in the final at Wembley Stadium on February 28.

Bookmark This Post