Manchester United's Headliners, Articles and Rumours

[qbdp]

Kieran Richardson's goal could potentially be the one that decides the EPL.

[yinyang]

Originally Posted by qbdp

Mourinho questions penalty escapes...Mourinho turned up the heat in the Premiership title battle by claiming it appears to be "forbidden" to award penalties against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Portuguese wine turned sour yet again

[machoman]

Ronaldo wins young player award
Monday, April 23, 2007, 04:59:40 HRS

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, pictured 10 April 2007, has completed the first half of an expected double award triumph on Sunday night when he was named PFA Young Player of the Year. - AFP

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo has completed the first half of an expected double award triumph on Sunday night when he was named PFA Young Player of the Year.

The 22-year-old Portugal winger, who is also favourite to win the Player of the Year accolade later Sunday, beat off competition from second-placed Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal and Tottenham's Aaron Lennon, who was third, to claim the honour, voted by the members of the Professional Footballers' Association, the players union.

Ronaldo has recovered from the controversy of last summer's World Cup to enjoy his best ever season as United battle for a sensational treble going into the final weeks of the campaign.

- AFP

[machoman]

Chelsea falter as Premiership title race takes another twist
Sunday, April 22, 2007, 23:02:12 HRS

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba reacts to a missed chance during the Premiership match against Newcastle United at St James Park. Chelsea have blown an opportunity to close the gap on Premiership leaders Manchester United as Newcastle held on for a 0-0 draw on 22 April 2007. - AFP

Chelsea blew an opportunity to close the gap on Premiership leaders Manchester United as Newcastle held on for a 0-0 draw on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho's side would have moved to within a point of United if they had won at St James' Park, but they produced a tired-looking display that could prove a major blow to their bid to retain the title.

Chelsea's failure to take advantage of United's draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday means they remain three points behind the leaders, with both clubs having four games to play.

The London club were both fortunate and frustrated within the first 20 minutes as another pivotal fixture at the top of the Premiership opened at a frantic pace.

Less than two minutes had elapsed when Newcastle's Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano floated a dangerous cross into the penalty area and found Antoine Sibierski.

The ex-Manchester City forward beat Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech in the air and only a desperate clearance by the Portuguese international Paulo Ferreira prevented a looping header from rolling across the goal-line.

Six minutes later Chelsea's Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba was convinced the visitors should have been awarded a penalty but referee Mark Halsey waved away a series of persistent claims.

Drogba's fellow countryman Salomon Kalou had driven into the United goalmouth and his chipped cross appeared to strike the left arm of United's Republic of Ireland full back Stephen Carr.

But Halsey refused to be swayed and minutes later Chelsea suffered another setback when influential German midfielder Michael Ballack was forced to leave the field with an injury.

Newcastle were on top and 11 minutes before the break James Milner played in Carr with a sublime reverse pass and the defender raced into the danger area. A low cross to the near post struck England defender John Terry's shin and Frenchman Claude Makelele cleared from Kieron Dyer.

Given the share of first half possession, weighted heavily in the favour of the home team, Chelsea were fortunate to find themselves on level terms at the outset of the second period.

And Lampard should have capitalised on the Londoners' good fortune within two minutes of the restart only to screw a right-footed drive over Steve Harper's crossbar from Kalou's clever cutback.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho grimaces before the start of the Premiership match against Newcastle United at St James Park. Chelsea have blown an opportunity to close the gap on Premiership leaders Manchester United as Newcastle held on for a 0-0 draw on 22 April 2007. - AFP

Newcastle responded with the best move of the match as Turkish international Emre and former England midfielder Nicky Butt linked up to mesmerising effect.

The former Fenerbahce playmaker danced past three challenges and squared a pass to Butt whose first time ball was played perfectly into the path of Dyer. Marginally offside, the midfielder was allowed to run clear and only a brave block from Cech maintained parity.

Substitute Joe Cole crossed for Lampard in the 62nd minute only for Newcastle defender Steven Taylor to intervene. But the loose ball broke to Kalou at the far post and only a combination of Carr, Harper and the backtracking Butt prevented the African from opening the scoring.

Mourinho replaced Makelele with Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko 15 minutes from time as he made one final bid to claim all three points. But Chelsea were forced to settle for one point and and could have few complaints after an unconvincing display.

English Premiership table after Sunday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Manchester United 34 26 4 4 78 24 82

Chelsea 34 24 7 3 60 20 79

Liverpool 35 20 7 8 54 22 67
Arsenal 35 18 9 8 59 33 63
Everton 35 14 12 9 46 31 54
Bolton 35 16 6 13 42 45 54
Reading 35 15 6 14 48 42 51
Tottenham 34 14 8 12 49 50 50
Portsmouth 34 13 10 11 43 38 49
Blackburn 34 13 5 16 42 49 44
Aston Villa 34 9 15 10 36 39 42
Newcastle 35 11 9 15 37 43 42
Manchester City 35 11 9 15 28 39 42
Middlesbrough 35 10 10 15 38 45 40
Fulham 35 7 15 13 35 54 36
Wigan Athletic 35 9 8 18 35 54 35
Sheffield United 35 9 8 18 30 50 35
Charlton 35 8 9 18 31 52 33
West Ham 35 9 5 21 28 58 32
Watford 35 4 12 19 26 57 24

- AF

[Castrol]

Originally Posted by machoman

Tottenham 34 14 8 12 49 50 50

standing in the top half of the table with a -1 goal difference and letting in 50 goals show how weak spurs' defence is.

[slyer]

Originally Posted by dom01

haha... they drew 0-0 at st james.. Are we lucky?

we are indeed very lucky....


surprised that reading n bolton is in top half of the table.... reading really impressed me they could be playing in uefa cup next season....

[machoman]

Originally Posted by Castrol

standing in the top half of the table with a -1 goal difference and letting in 50 goals show how weak spurs' defence is.

Yup, agreed.

Spurs should have won Arsenal but as usual, they conceded 2 silly goals!

[qbdp]

Originally Posted by Castrol

standing in the top half of the table with a -1 goal difference and letting in 50 goals show how weak spurs' defence is.

Spurs need to buy a better keeper to challenge Robinson. King is missed this season as well.

[Castrol]

Originally Posted by machoman

Yup, agreed.

Spurs should have won Arsenal but as usual, they conceded 2 silly goals!

spurs allowed arsenal to take control after keane's goal, i found that funny given it was white hart lane. only zokora was trying to double the lead with his charging runs, the rest were in defensive mode.

Originally Posted by qbdp

Spurs need to buy a better keeper to challenge Robinson. King is missed this season as well.

robinson is becoming average but the central defenders really need to shape up or ship out.

rooney and c.ronaldo are both making the right headlines after their hiccup world cup.

[qbdp]

Originally Posted by Castrol

rooney and c.ronaldo are both making the right headlines after their hiccup world cup.

With a little help from this great old man.

[CibLover]

Ronaldo Wins Double PFA Crown.

*Oppss.. news posted already in the other thread about PFA Award. Pai seh..


PFA Player and Young Player of the Year 2007 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

PFA Premier League Team of the Year 2007 - Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra (all Man Utd); Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo (all Man Utd) & Steven Gerrard (Liverpool); Didier Drogba (Chelsea) & Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham)

Special Merit Award - Sir Alex Ferguson

================================================== ===

Hopefully, more is to come. Again to RM and Barca... F*** Off!!!!

[Castrol]

Originally Posted by qbdp

With a little help from this great old man.

this old man built an empire bigger than our planet.

[qbdp]

Originally Posted by Castrol

this old man built an empire bigger than our planet.

Gordon Taylor, PFA Chief Executive paid tribute to Merit Award winner Ferguson, saying: "We are delighted to have Sir Alex here as our Guest of Honour in this special year. He is the most successful British manager of all time, and to have celebrated his 20th year in charge of Manchester United is a remarkable achievement in any era.

"During that time, Sir Alex has put no fewer than NINETEEN trophies in the Old Trafford cabinet, including eight Premier League titles, the Champions League, the European Cup Winners' Cup), five FA Cups and two League Cups.

"When you add that to the nine trophies he previously won as manager of Aberdeen (a haul which included three Premier League titles and the Cup Winners' Cup) it's not too difficult to see why, at the ripe old age of 65, he is still recognised as the best in the business."

Sir Alex was proud to join an illustrious list of Merit Award winners, and the long-serving manager responded to a question about what advice he would give to young managers coming into the game today...'get a good chairman…and a good contract'.

[qbdp]

The PFA Awards: Cristiano is crowned Players' Player AND Young Player of the Year!

On the biggest night of the footballing calendar, the PFA is delighted to announce that Cristiano Ronaldo has been named both Players' Player and Young Player of the Year - the first player since Andy Gray to be so honoured. It was therefore a clean sweep for Manchester United as Sir Alex Ferguson is a worthy winner of our Merit Award.

At the organisation's 34th star-studded awards' dinner at London's Grosvenor House Hotel the Manchester United winger was honoured by his fellow professionals, the greatest individual accolade a player can receive.

It is a great tribute to Cristiano that after a difficult start to the season, following events at the World Cup, he has been able to silence the critics and win over the doubters in such spectacular fashion.

As we celebrate 100 years of the PFA, it is an even greater honour for Cristiano who will go down in history as the young man who won both prestigious individual awards in our Centenary Year.

In the Players' Player category, the Portuguese star faced immense competition from the likes of 30-goal Didier Drogba, Cesc Fabregas, Steven Gerrard, as well as United colleagues Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

In the young player category, Cristiano was also in distinguished company as he successfully headed off the challenge of Fabregas, again, Kevin Doyle, Aaron Lennon, Micah Richards and Wayne Rooney. No mean feat in itself.

Gordon Taylor, PFA Chief Executive, paid his own tribute to our double award winner, saying: "He is the most exciting player in the country at the moment, the quickness of his feet and the skills he possesses make you think, at times, that he's from another planet.


Shit...They played the excerpt of our players celebrating the Anfield win.

"In actual fact, he's from the small Portuguese island of Madeira which, in itself, makes it all the more incredible that he has made such a huge name for himself on the world stage."

The 2007 Player of the Year himself said of his tribute from his fellow pros: "It is a tremendous honour for me, and to be the first Portuguese player to win this award makes it even more special. Amazing, in fact. It has been a great season but I feel the best is yet to come."

"Someone told me recently that only one person had ever won both trophies, so I am very proud to follow in Andy Grays footsteps. At this moment I am playing with confidence and the team is playing with confidence. Everything is right. I am still young and I am learning all the time and I think I have got more to offer. Winning this trophy is very important to me."

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson added: "People are already comparing him to Pele, Best and Maradona but he has still got some way to go before reaching that level. However, I believe that he is the best player in the world at the moment. To score 21 goals from a wide position is incredible."

[qbdp]

Originally Posted by CibLover

Ronaldo Wins Double PFA Crown.

Hopefully, more is to come. Again to RM and Barca... F*** Off!!!!

Must be a pleasure for Ronaldo to share the stage with his boss who has never stopped supporting him.