Showing posts with label injuries. Show all posts

Friday, 3 February 2012

Transfers completed for the winter window FA Cup pics. #mufc

The window closes and United have signed just a couple of players having allowed a few to leave at the same time. Ravel Morrison is the most surprising and has caught the headlines all week. It seems that United failed to get through to the troubled young man. I'm not sure if he wanted to get away from Manchester or whether United have just had enough of his crap antics.

Over the last few years Morrison seemingly survived Fergies wrath even though he brought bad press on a regular basis. From court appearances to public shows of dissrespect the lad seemed determined to destroy his United career. And it now appears that the predicted premature end has arrived. I only hope this isn't the beginning of the end for Ravel because his potential is incredible. Here's a youtube video that'll make you sad.

Transfer ins and outs

All talk, no action? Not quite.

Although this year's January transfer window failed to yield the sort of spectacular deadline-day signings the Premier League witnessed in 2011, there were still plenty of moves made and money exchanged.
Manchester United, too, was involved in its fair share of business. When the window slammed shut – it never merely closes – at 23:00 GMT on Tuesday night, the Reds could tot up nine departures (four permanent), one arrival and a surprise retirement U-turn.
Of course, set against the 57 different players that were tipped to be either coming or going during the window, that figure seems small. But, as The Gossip – ManUtd.com's rolling round-up of all the speculation and rumour-mongering – continues to prove, you shouldn't believe everything you read.
This much is certainly true, though: Darron Gibson (Everton), Mame Biram Diouf (Hannover 96), Ravel Morrison (West Ham United) and Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City)
have been sold, while Federico Macheda (Queens Park Rangers), John Cofie (Royal Antwerp), Joshua King (Hull City), Oliver Norwood (Coventry City) and Scott Wootton (Nottingham Forest) have landed loan deals until the end of the season.
The arrival? That's Frederic Veseli, a promising young Swiss defender the Reds have landed from crosstown rivals Manchester City. And who can forget Paul Scholes' reinstatement to the first-team squad? The 37-year-old midfielder, missing football more than he could ever anticipate, came out of retirement in early January and has pledged to remain part of Sir Alex's plans until at least the end of the season.
It's also worth noting that young goalkeeper Sam Johnstone (Scunthorpe) and defender Ritchie De Laet (Norwich City) returned from loans during January and will now continue their footballing education at Old Trafford. manutd.com

We have also signed a Swiss defender who captained the national side during the U-17 World Cup last year.. The 19-year-old centre-back, who plays for Switzerland Under 20s, will link up with Warren Joyce's Reserves after making his name in City's Academy side.

I'm travelling to Chelsea this weekend for what should be a top game, we're in good form, John Terry just lost the armband from England and Ashley Cole is suspended. I am quietl;y confident that we will improve on our not so great record there. i can't wait. Meanwhile here are a few pics from the Anfield FA Cup tie. Thanks to HQworld.net

It looks like Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney, Luis Nani and Tom Cleverley will all be back in the squad at weekend but unfortunately Anders Lindegaard is out for a month with ankle ligament damage.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Injuries add to the pain of failing to reach the semi's. #mufc

Another bunch of injuries to add to my list of gripes this week. It's not been a good one. Last weekend the injury list seemed to be shrinking as players returned from a variety of injuries. However, last night was a real injury nightmare: Rafael Da Silva has recently returned from injury only to be subbed in the game due to a new injury. His twin brother who is also injury prone had to limp off the pitch in the first half. I cannot believe how many times the twins have been injured, they seem to have the worst fortune ever. Dimitar Berbatov was also added to the injury list last night, he was seen wearing a foot cast/brace later in the evening.

So aside from the injury list growing, I am a bit depressed due to our recent results and performances. We seem to have taken our foot right off the pedal and I hope we can retrieve some urgency in our play. Last night against Crystal Palace we moved the ball slowly through the midfield and there was a real lack of movement from our midfield and attacking players. I felt so depressed watching that game.

It was a similar story against Newcastle and we paid the price in that game also. Even though from where I was stood Newcastle should never have been awarded a penalty the linesman imagined he saw a foul and mis-lead the referee enough for him to change his original and correct decision.

Anyway, next stop is Villa Park on Saturday and I will be there singing my heart out as usual. I have just decided to do the Fulham trip on the 17th of December also. That should be pretty awesome and I'm gonna stay overnight in London just to make sure I have plenty of shandy drinking time!

Here are some HD images from the Newcastle game at Old Trafford last Saturday:

Images from HQworld.net

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Champions League standings, United win but injuries continue to pile up. #mufc

Tonight was another slightly subdued performance from an injury hit squad. Manchester United now have more players injured than any other Premier League team. I can't understand why but for the last couple of seasons the reds have had on average 5 players injured for most of the season. I have no idea why the injuries that are causing Sir Alex to rotate the squad as much as he does seem to be a constant problem. Some will claim that it's the intensity of United's training sessions, others will say it's the number of fixtures but whatever is at fault, there seems to be no respite.

The list has now grown to 8 players injured I believe, after Michael Owen was sadly substituted early on in the home 2-0 win against Otelul Galati. He helped create space for Antonio Valencia to score the opener after making a darting run to the near post following a great cross from Phil Jones. Thankfully Rafael Da Silva is back in training after recovering from a shoulder injury which kept him out for around 10 weeks.

Injury list so far:

Tom Cleverley: ankle sprain. Ashley Young: Ankle or foot injury. Federico Macheda: Arm or elbow injury. Ryan Giggs: Hamstring sprain (thigh injury). Darron Gibson: Ankle or foot injury.
Bebe: Anterior cruciate ligament tear (knee injury).
Michael Owen: Quadriceps sprain (thigh injury). So tonight saw another One of Fergie's mish-mash teams that always seem to get the job done, a lot has to be said for the way Uniteds players slot in alongside each other in some surprising combinations. Tonight all the Rooney for Centre Midfield fans will have gotten to see how Wazza performs in that role. For me he was man of the match and boy did we need him because his midfield partner; Anderson was below par this evening. In general there was some very sloppy passing from others too, but some of the balls across the space in front of the back four must have given David De Gea nightmares. But this time of year is usually when United begin to pick up the tempo for the christmas run-in and I'm confident we will continue to win games. On a positive note we are still in contention for all competitions and have almost qualified top of our Champions League group without breaking too much of a sweat. Here are the current UEFA Champions League standings after matchday 4:
If we can shrug off our injury woes and win the next group game we will win the group so I'm not too bothered. We face Sunderland on Saturday at Old Trafford and the team sheet is anybodys guess! Here's my guess:

Monday, 17 October 2011

Manchester United travel to Romania; How will they line up? #mufc

Seeing as though it seems like forever since I've been to a United match I thought I'd post some gifs that make me smile.   I couldn't get a Liverpool ticket and I won't be travelling to Romania unfortunately so I haven't seen the pride of all Europe play since the Norwich game. Oh well, at least I have the derby to look forward to this coming Saturday.

I simply cannot wait for this match, United will be up for this no doubt but unfortunately we need to win the Romanian away match against Otelul Galati. Now this in itself doesn't pose a major problem, however we always play under par after a mid-week Champions League away match. Therefore it seems likely to me that Fergie will try to rest players when we go to Romania. We do need to win the UEFA match because of a lack of points acquired in the first Two matches.

I am expecting Vidic to get some minutes as he has travelled with the squad but I'm not sure he will start, I expect to see Anderson as he didn't play against Liverpool and probably Rooney to start (with a view to coming off early). I am hoping we will play 4-4-2 but 4-3-3 is a distinct possibility. Injuries have their part to play in deciding the lineup, as ever. Tom Cleverley is still injured, Vidic has just recovered from a calf injury and so has travelled with the squad. Darron Gibson is injured and so is Bebe although I have my doubts as to whether these injuries would have affected Sir Alex's squad selection this time out.

The 23 players travelling to Romania are:

Goal Keepers:             De Gea, Lindegaard, Amos
Defenders:        Evra, Jones, Evans, Smalling, Vidic, Fabio
Midfielders:                Anderson, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Nani, Young, Fletcher, Valencia
Attackers:      Owen, Berbatov, Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Diouf

In view of this fact we may possibly see a starting lineup similar to this:

man utd lineup prediction 4-4-2 otelul galati away

It's possible that Valencia will start instead of Nani on the right wing leaving Nani or Park available to play on the left. I am sure if we had won our first Two group games that Nani Young Anderson and Rooney would all have been rested.

However we may elect to play a 4-3-3 system which could end up something like this:

I think if we can wrap this one up early enough then we may see Owen, Berbatov or even Mame Biram Diouf getting a run out.

I am getting excited now, I have just booked 12 places on the coach to the Everton game! I think it's gonna be a great day out. Now I'm just wondering if I can afford that Aldershot trip in the meantime!