Injury list keeps growing but United keep scoring. #mufc

Our list of injuries has grown again as Jonny Evans picks up an injury as well as Phil Jones having been injured at Fulham.  Chris Smalling is also in the injury room, the list below shows how the squad has been decimated by injuries.  Sir Alex and the team have worked miracles to reel in Man City and reduce the goal difference deficit to just 5.

		C Smalling	Illness	no return date
		J Evans	Calf/Shin Injury	14th Jan 12
		R Ferdinand	Ankle/Foot Injury	31st Dec 11	slight doubt
		A Young	Ankle/Foot Injury	11th Jan 12
		P Jones	Facial Injury	31st Dec 11	slight doubt
		D Fletcher	Bowel Condition	no return date
		N Vidic	ACL Knee Injury	Jun 12
		Fabio	Hamstring Injury	31st Dec 11	very doubtful
		Anderson	Knee Injury	23rd Feb 12
		M Owen	Thigh Muscle Strain	no return date
		T Cleverley	Ankle/Foot Injury	no return date
		T Bebe	ACL Knee Injury	5th Feb 12

ManUtd.com match report from Manchester United Vs Wigan Athletic.

United 5 Wigan 0

A clinical hat-trick from Dimitar Berbatov and well-taken finishes from Ji-sung Park and Antonio Valencia gave United a second successive five-goal victory and moved the Reds level on points with Manchester City at the head of the Barclays Premier League table.
Park opened the scoring inside 10 minutes and Berbatov added a double either side of the interval, before Valencia blasted home against his former club and Park won a penalty for Berbatov to confidently convert with 10 minutes remaining. City's unexpected stalemate at West Brom means now only goal difference separates the two title rivals.

A much-changed Reds side coped comfortably with widescale reshuffling, though their cause was aided by the harsh dismissal of Wigan striker Conor Sammon for a perceived elbow on Michael Carrick, who again deputised in defence.

Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to make several personnel changes to his side. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling missed out through illness, and were replaced by serial moonlighters Valencia and Carrick. In turn Darron Gibson stepped into midfield while Park took up a berth on the left wing and Nani shunted over to the opposite flank. The visitors, conversely, were unchanged from their previous outing. The Reds' perfect league record against the Latics had been aired repeatedly in the run-up to the match, but Roberto Martinez's side arrived at Old Trafford on the back of successive away wins at Sunderland and West Brom, as well as creditable home draws against Chelsea and Liverpool.

Buoyed by the champions' comparative unfamiliarity, Wigan's early approach demonstrated a willingness to commit numbers to counter-attacks, and one surging

run from Victor Moses culminated in a shot which Carrick chested to safety. The bulk of the visitors' early play was, however, spent trying to congest central areas; a plan which United tore up inside eight minutes.

Patrice Evra ended some patient possession play by bursting into the Wigan area, bypassing challenges from Moses and Antolin Alcaraz and sliding a ball across the area for Park, who stabbed a neat finish around Maynor Figueroa and past the unsighted Ali Al-Habsi. Scenting blood, United continued to pour forward down the flanks, flooding the space afforded by Wigan's three-man central defensive line-up. Park found Berbatov, whose pull-back was destined for Chicharito until Caldwell intervened. Moments later the Mexican's neat turn was negated by a hooked challenge from Alcaraz, yet referee Phil Dowd ignored the United striker's compelling claim for a penalty.

A second goal seemed inevitable. Caldwell escaped embarrassment as his pressured clearance ricocheted against Al-Habsi, while Gibson's effort from 25 yards was deflected wide by Ronnie Stam and Nani's free-kick from similar range curled a yard off-target.
Jordi Gomez spurned a promising free-kick from a similar position for the visitors, scuffing his shot against the wall, before Moses drew an important block from Gibson after fashioning space for himself in the United area. Stam then flung a superb ball across Anders Lindegaard's area, only for the Latics' lack of attacking numbers to undo its excellence.

Just as the visitors were growing in confidence, however, they were dealt a crippling double blow, as they lost a player and a second goal in the space of two minutes. Referee Dowd judged that Sammon deserved a red card for catching Carrick with a stray arm, but the apparent lack of intent in the striker's flailing prompted irate protests from his colleagues. Their fury was compounded soon afterwards, as Gibson's curled cross found its way to Berbatov on the edge of the six-yard box. Though the Bulgarian's first touch, for once, sent the ball looping out of control, he admirably held off Alcaraz and clinically tucked a left-footed finish underneath the onrushing Al-Habsi.

Events prompted minor half-time tinkering from both managers. Sir Alex withdrew Jonny Evans - his only fit central defender, and one carrying a booking - moved Evra inside and introduced Zeki Fryers at left-back. Roberto Martinez compensated for Sammon's loss with the arrival of striker Franco Di Santo in place of Mohamed Diame. The Argentine moved forward to partner Moses in a 3-4-2 formation which, while bold, left Wigan fragile in the face of United attacks. Park might have doubled his own tally within moments of the restart, as his header was palmed out by Al-Habsi, only for the rebound to fall tantalisingly shy of the Korean's reach.

Berbatov then headed a floated Giggs corner narrowly over, before the Bulgarian assured United's victory with another goal drenched in his unquestioned class. Valencia embarked on another voyage down the yawning right flank and slipped a pass inside to the striker, who controlled the ball with his right instep and spun to face the goal in one motion, before toe-poking a fabulous finish high into Al-Habsi's net.

That was the cue for further changes, with Giggs and Nani removed and preserved for forthcoming festive action, and Kiko Macheda and Wayne Rooney on in left wing and central midfield berths respectively. Though the game slowed markedly, only a stunning close-range stop from Al-Habsi prevented Chicharito from turning in Rooney's mis-hit volley.

Having cruised through much of the second period, United cranked up the pressure with 20 minutes remaining. Macheda's cross-shot was palmed over by Al-Habsi and Caldwell's inadvertant header dropped just wide, before Valencia heaped further misery on his former employers with a cracking strike. A half-cleared corner was worked across to the Ecuadorian by Carrick, and Valencia thundered a low shot across a packed area and into the far corner; his second goal in as many Old Trafford outings against the club who brought him to England.

United were making substantial inroads into the goal-difference deficit City had built up during the opening months of the campaign, and notched up another when Alcaraz felled Park on the cusp of the area. Berbatov duly stroked home the penalty to complete his treble.
The joyous feel around Old Trafford was further heightened by news of City's stalemate at West Brom. As the Reds continue to gather momentum in spite of a raft of injuries, drawing level at the top proved an unexpected, yet highly welcome, festive fillip for the champions.

Images from HQworld.net

Loading

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

Loading

Injury update and Images from Swansea City Vs Manchester United #mufc

Manchester United have a few players returning from injury, the injury list is now down to 6 players.  One or two new injuries have been added to the list though so it's not all been good news. Wayne Rooney has suffered a few knocks according to Sir Alex Ferguson but didn't play in the  Benfica Champions League tie at Old Trafford this week.  Today the injury list is as follows:

Name.                               Injury.                               Return date.

Tom Cleverley                 Ankle/Foot injury.               4wks
Bebe                                 Knee ligament.                    12wks

Chris Smalling                 Ankle/Foot injury                2wks Michael Owen                 Thigh muscle strain              4wks Danny Welbeck                Muscle strain                       This week. Wayne Rooney                 Unknown                             This week. I'm looking forward to Saturday when Newcastle come to visit Old Trafford.  Hopefully there wont be any silly mistakes like at the Benfica game.  I will try to get some decent pics or something to upload while I'm out and about. Images from Swansea City Vs Mannchester United at the Liberty Staduim.

Images from HQworld.net

Loading

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:

Loading