And They Should

Reds Rebels Told To Sign

http://www.thesun.co.uk  

29 February 2012

CONTRACT rebels Paul Pogba and Ezekiel Fryers have been told to sign new deals in the next 48 hours or forget about playing for Manchester United again

The talented teenagers look set to follow bad-boy Ravel Morrison out of the Old Trafford door after failing to put pen to paper.

Pogba, 18, and Fryers, 19, are out of contract in the summer but Red Devils bigwigs are now determined to force the issue by demanding they sign up by Friday.

TOM CLEVERLEY hopes to return to United action next week. The England midfielder limped out of the Europa League clash with Ajax last Thursday with an ankle injury.

But he could return for the clash with Athletic Bilbao next Thursday.

Luis Saha Stories

I scored 2 and still got Fergie hairdryer

LOUIS SAHA has revealed how Alex Ferguson left him deaf and dumbstruck with his 'hairdryer' — after he scored TWICE.

http://www.thesun.co.uk  

28 February 2012

The Tottenham striker faces former club Manchester United and ex-manager Ferguson on Sunday in a crucial match at the top of the Premier League.

And Saha will never forget how the man he still calls 'boss' laid into him at half-time of only his second appearance for United at Everton.

He said: "When I headed towards the changing-room, I was feeling proud. As soon as I sat down, I was woken up in a violent way — Sir Alex Ferguson rendered me deaf.

"I was surprised but yes, it was me he was yelling and screaming at.

"He was going mad and I quickly understood why — he was unhappy because we came in with only a three-goal lead when we should have wrapped the game up.

"He was furious about my missed chances and reminded me that this is the very top level. Wow. I woke up even more sharply when 45 minutes later Everton had come back to 3-3. Goodison Park was on fire.

"Only Ruud van Nistelrooy helped me escape the nightmare — with a stoppage-time goal."

Saha's form has seen him recalled to the France squad for tomorrow's friendly against Germany.

After that, Saha will be desperate to get Tottenham back on track after Sunday's derby defeat to Arsenal.

The former Fulham striker tells the tale of life under Fergie in his new book 'Du quartier aux etoiles' or, 'From the inner city to the stars'.

Despite the early Ferguson treatment, Frenchman Saha went on to develop a close relationship with the United boss during 4½ injury-hit seasons at Old Trafford.

He tells of how he was so low after one injury that he went to Ferguson's office and said he should be treated like a youngster and have to prove himself a first-team player.

But Ferguson simply cut short his self-pitying speech and told him he would come back strongly.

When Saha asked Ferguson if he could interview him for his book, the United manager spoke just five hours after arriving home from a Champions League match.

In the interview, Ferguson reveals how he has adapted as a leader from a culture of boozy bonding sessions to today's world of agents and scientific training methods.

Saha will now try to put a dent in Ferguson and United's title bid.

And he clearly believes the return of Carlos Tevez to Manchester City could also spell trouble for United.

Saha recalls how ex-United ace Tevez virtually forced Fergie to put him on in a European match in Lyon in 2008 by constantly warming up and glaring at his boss.

That may have been the opposite attitude to his behaviour in the row with City boss Roberto Mancini — but Tevez scored a leveller and Saha even compares him to the likes of Lionel Messi.

Saha's book is published by Anne Carrière. For more go to louissaha08.com /du-quartier-aux-etoiles/

Now He Wants Talk

Pogba puts Juve and Milan on hold

http://www.football-italia.net?

28 February 2012

Paul Pogba won’t consider reported offers from Juventus and Milan until he’s held further talks with Manchester United.

The teenage midfielder is out of contract in the summer and the two Italian giants have shown an interest in the 18-year-old.

“It is a precarious situation and a difficult moment,” the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, told The Independent. “It is up to the boy to make some decisions.

“We know there are some clubs interested in him, but Manchester United want him to stay.

“The club give the indication that they want to keep him and we are talking contract terms. There is willingness from both parties at the moment.

“We must finish first with Manchester and after that we will see other options – if they are there.”

Pogba moved to Old Trafford from Le Havre in 2009.

This is very talented young player. Worth every cents to keep him at Old Trafford. He said he love United and wanted to say but in the same time put the team at ransom. He already got a lot of admirers a long the world so the reason he acting this way must be the money. He is just 18, the way he acted, many people might said that he was frustrated been no able to play in the first team. Maybe he got wrong advise saying that he should earn more and play more. So this could be the reason he was reported rejected £20,000a week deal.

I believed he should listen to what people in Old Trafford said especially Sir Alex. How could you gain more if your appearance for the first team limited. He should set Hernandez or Nani as a guideline or example. Nani especially is very patient. After long been overshadowed by Ronaldo he grab his opportunity wisely. He showed to the gaffer, his team and fans what he is capable to do. Now people more appreciate his talent and adored him. Now the reward he got is super bumper new deal. Same to Hernandez he let the talking on the pitch that resulted his wages been increase.

To be in the great club like Manchester United any player should be grateful. Take the time and when it come grab it wisely. Pogba still 18. I believed Scholes played for the first team when he was 20. So Pogba you better had clear conscience in your career. If it is money than better you go.

Never Doubt Referee Calls

Premier League referees are always right* (well, 92 per cent of the time)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

28 February 2012

The speed of top-level English football has increased by an astonishing 20 per cent in the last five years, according to statistics drawn up by the professional referees' body.  Using Prozone computer technology, it has been established a significant rise in fitness levels  has seen players in the Barclays Premier League running that much more at the 'high intensity' level; more than 21 kilometres per hour.

That, they believe, is the result of the increasingly competitive nature of the Premier League and the appliance of sports science producing fitter players.  It is putting more pressure on referees because the game has become that much faster in such a short space of time.

Even so, modern training techniques for professional referees to meet that challenge are being introduced and match delegates - officials who monitor and mark the referees on behalf of  Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) - believe they are  getting results.  An event occurs in a Premier League match every six seconds on average, with a referee having to make a decision every 12 seconds. But PGMOL believe that, for the most part, the professional refs are getting the 'major  decisions' right.

Statistics compiled by the match delegates claim referees get 92.3 per cent of those calls right with results for assistant referees even better; a staggering 99.3 per cent. These figures might surprise a few managers and players, never mind fans, and they are open to interpretation given that what constitutes a 'major decision' is debatable.

In fact, any incident can divide a room - even one full of professional referees. But it is PGMOL's intention not only to meet the demands of the modern game but also educate managers, players, fans and  the media when it comes to the challenge facing referees today.

They are working in tandem with the FA's disciplinary officials, who also have new issues like social media - in particular Twitter - with which to contend.

Pogba To Leave?

Manchester United face up to losing contract rebel Pogba

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

27 February 2012

Manchester United's attempts to keep teenage prodigy Paul Pogba have hit crisis point.  United have been in talks for weeks with the 18-year-old French midfielder about a new contract.

But Pogba's agent, Mino Raiola, admitted the teenager's future at Old Trafford was now 'precarious' after he was told to train alone after being left out of the squad for the second leg of the Europa League tie against Ajax.

Raiola and United refused to confirm or deny that Pogba, out of contract in the summer, was excluded from first-team training last Friday.

'It is a precarious situation. It is difficult,' Raiola said. 'United want him. It is up to the boy to make some decisions.'

Toward The 20th Title

The premier league in England now towards its end. With 12 games left the champion surely is the Manchester team. I really had no doubt about it. Only to decide is which club whether the red half or the blue half of Manchester. As true Red Devils fan, my vote surely for United.

When Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan bought Manchester United in 2008, the wealthy Sheikh splashed about £320m on transfers. But then Ferguson still not regards his noisy neighbor as main threat in the league. Things change in this season when Ferguson already admit before the season starts that City is a serious contender for premier league title. With money they have City could not be left out.

Sheikh Mansour is a United Arab Emirati politician and member of ruling family of Abu Dhabi (emirate). Khaldoon Al Mubarak is Chairman Since September 2008 when Sheikh Mansour took over from previous owner, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Now the Citizen really showed that they meant business. They lead the league from the beginning of the season. With quality players at their disposal they really played well and deserved to be at the top of the league. Their strike forces should pose fear to others with 67 goals so far. They also had the meanest defense that conceded only 19 goals in 26 games.

All United have to do is win all the remaining games and the title will be theirs again. United only had two  tough games await them which are Tottenham Hotspur, away game on 4^th March and the title decider match against The Citizen on 30^th April, again away game. But United also had to watch out the games against Villa and Everton. These two are bogey teams for United. City meanwhile still had to face Chelski and Arsenal. Should they lose in these two game United quest for the 20^th title would be much easier.

Richer Banker

HSBC boss’s £6m bonus – but bank made £14bn

http://www.thesun.co.uk  

28 February 2012

THE boss of HSBC has been given a £6million bonus after the bank made almost £14billion profit. Chief exec Stuart Gulliver, 51, earned a total of £7.2million — £1.3million in annual pay with bonuses of £5.9million.

Another 192 HSBC bankers pocketed £1million or more last year — 65 in the UK.

The total bonus pot across the bank was £2.65billion — down two per cent.

The pay day came after HSBC said it had made more than any bank in the Western world in 2011 — £13.8billion.

That was up 15 per cent as it cashed in on huge growth in the Far East. But bank chiefs said Mr Gulliver should have performed BETTER.

A scorecard showing how he earned his fortune gave him half marks for "profit" and none for "reputation" after a huge mis-selling fine last year. Chairman Douglas Flint described HSBC's performance as "satisfactory".

Unions slammed Mr Gulliver for taking the cash as 30,000 jobs could go by 2014. But HSBC — which was not bailed out — said it had to pay top wages to retain the best staff.

United Premier League Remaining Fixtures

March 2012
Fixture	Date	Kick-off Malaysia Time
Tottenham v Man Utd	Sunday 4 March	12:10 am
Man Utd v West Brom	Saturday 10 March	11:00 pm
Wolves v Man Utd	Sunday 18 March	11:30 pm
Man Utd v Fulham	Monday 26 March	04:00 am
April 2012
Man Utd v QPR	Sunday 8 April	09:30 pm
Wigan v Man Utd	Wednesday 11 April	03:45 am
Man Utd v Aston Villa	Sunday 15 April	12:00 am
Man Utd v Everton	Sunday 22 April	10:30 pm
Man City v Man Utd	Monday 30 April	04:00 am
May 2012
Man Utd v Swansea	Saturday 5 May	11:00 pm
Sunderland v Man Utd	Sunday 13 May	11:00 pm

Lucky Lucky United

Norwich	1-2	Man United
Grant Holt 84′		Paul Scholes 7
		Ryan Giggs 90+1

It was Giggsy day. On his 900th game appearance for Man United he scored another goal to remember. A record that second to Maldini but surely be no one in term of appearance. But most memorable one should be the goal he scored against the gritty Canaries. United was on the brink of losing two precious points that surely made the noisy neighbours happy. But Giggsy showed once again that never write off Man United until the fat lady sing and Man United is the master of late goals.

United recalled the normal line up after the defeat of Ajax. But still without Rooney who was out due to virus infection. The line up showed the real United for at least at early game. Again United scored an early goal through Paul Scholes. However that goal not totally killed the Canaries. Instead the host became more focus, positive and discipline. From there the Canaries rallied back. 

Their work paid off on 84th minutes. Great goal from Holt to defeat De Gea who had outstanding game. After pulling few magnificent saves finally the Spaniard conceded. But then it was Giggs who stole the thunder. His last minutes goal had brought United to live once again.

BPL Matchday 26 Results

Saturday 25 February 2012
Newcastle United	2-2	Wolverhampton
Queen Park Ranger	0-1	Fulham
Wigan	0-0	Aston Villa
West Brom	4-0	Sunderland
Chelsea	3-0	Bolton
Man City	3-0	Blackburn
Sunday 26 February 2012
Norwich	1-2	Man United
Arsenal	5-2	Tottenham
Stoke City	2-0	Swansea

Europa League: United Squeezes Through

United	1-2	Ajax
Aggregate	3-2
Hernandez 6’		Aras Özbiliz 37′
		Toby Alderweireld 87′

United went into the game with healthy margin from 2-0  win over Ajax in the first room. Knowing that with BPL game on Sunday some players were rested. In the same time United welcome back few players that been sidelined due to injury. So some players need a rest while some players need games.

So Smalling and Jones were the prefered centre back with Da Silva twins as the fullbacks. So the average age for United backline for this game was 20 years old. Very young and inexperience backline. Then the midfield were Cleverley and Ji Sung at centre of midfield with Young and Nani as the wingers. Strikers were Hernandez and Berbatov.

Overall it was youthful squad with average age of 24 years old. And another surprised, Ji Sung Park was named as the captain. He is good servant of United with no question against his work rate and dedication, but to be the captain of United was another matter.

However United started brilliantly. Hernandez gave United the lead just after 6 minutes from brilliant forward move by United. From there United seemed to cruising and had comfortable evening. But then suddenly United lost their focus. They played without purpose and a little bit casual. Ajax just waiting to score and they did in 37th minutes.. From there on Ajax was the better side. Then Ajax set a nerving ending when they scored second on 87th minutes. United hold on and lucky enough to progress into the last 16 to meet Athletic Bilboa.

Again an inability to protect a lead and complacency almost made United pay. So buckled up United.

Europa Cup: United vs Ajax

Into The Last 16

United will be the favourite to advance for the last 16. De Boer in the first round admit that United have so much class that really made both team different. So there would be no trouble for United to see off Ajax at Old Trafford.

De Gea will be between the post. However United need to rotate their players since the rest time was reduced and there will be game on Sunday. So Phil Jones and Smalling should partner as centre back. Thus give Rio Ferdinand a rest. Da Silva twins would be the fullback in order to give Evra extra time to clear his head. In the midfield Ferguson may give Tom Cleverley a run out. Micheal Carrick may be started along him. Paul Pogba may also had a run out. For the wingers, the outstanding Valencia is out for a month. Nani should take the right wing while Young on the left. Park Ji Sung also in the contender for the left wing. Rooney is out due to throat infection so Hernandez should be in. Welbeck is another striker for this game. But I really hope that Berbatov play for this game.

Match Facts

• The last time United faced Ajax at Old Trafford was in this competition in 1976. The Reds won 2-0 with goals from Lou Macari and Sammy McIlroy.
• The last United player to score at Old Trafford in the UEFA Cup was Peter Schmeichel in 1995 against Rotor Volgograd. The Great Dane equalised in injury time for the Reds but they were still eliminated on away goals after the game finished 2-2.
• Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are the only survivors that match. Paul Scholes scored United’s first goal that day.
• United’s keeper David De Gea won the competition in 2010 as a 19 year old with Atletico Madrid, beating Fulham in the final . Chris Smalling played for Fulham that season, however he missed out on place in the squad for the final despite featuring in all the other rounds of the competition.
• Ajax are one of only three teams to win all 3 European Trophies. The other 2 are Juventus and Bayern Munich. Manchester United have the chance to equal this record by winning this year’s Europa league, having already won the Champions League and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in their history.
• Manchester United have lost only once in 7 years at Old Trafford in European competition since they lost against AC Milan in March 2005. That was a 1-0 defeat in the group stages against Besiktas in 2009, when the Red’s had already qualified.
• No team had ever gone on to qualify after losing 2-0 at home in the first leg

Kick Off 4.00 am Malaysia time

Nani Gets Bumper Deal

Nan bread

United winger gets serious dough

http://www.thesun.co.uk  

21 February 2012

MANCHESTER UNITED are to open talks with Nani over a megabucks new four-year deal — worth a whopping £130,000 a week. The champions are ready to spend after raking in a record £175million profit in six months.

United also cut their debts in the second half of last year with the money owed to the Glazer family, under the terms of their takeover, reduced from £508m to £439m.

Portuguese winger Nani, 24, has two years to run on his current contract, worth £90,000 a week. He is perfectly happy at Old Trafford — despite interest from Juventus and AC Milan — and there are no problems over the terms of his offer.

The £18m buy from Sporting Lisbon in 2007 took time to find his feet in England but was last term voted United's players' player of the year.

Now United will rocket him into the same pay bracket as their highest earners.SunSport revealed in November that the Old Trafford paymasters pencilled in talks for early this year.

Those discussions are set to begin over the next week to extend Nani's stay until 2016. Boss Alex Ferguson is convinced Nani can develop into a similar player to Cristiano Ronaldo and become a Reds legend.

The mercurial star began this season in superb form and returned to the side for last week's Europa League win in Ajax after being out for nearly a month with a foot injury.

United released figures for the last six months of 2011 which show they will still be kings of Manchester off the pitch... even if their neighbours and Premier League leaders City take their title.

The £175m profit is £18.5m up on the same period in 2010, an increase of almost 12 per cent.

This season's Champions League flop means figures for the next six months are likely to be less impressive.

And while United remain England's richest club, they fell further behind Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona in football's money league.

Their match-day revenue was up from £52.4m to £54.5m. Media increased from £53.7m to £60.9m and commercial revenue from £50.4m to £58.6m.

Japan Tsunami A Year Later

Pictures recently taken at Japan's Iwate, Miyagi where heavy earthquake and tsunami struck last March show changes one year after the disaster.

Source

   

Yes Please Sign Him

Ferguson planning £15m Eriksen move

Manchester United transfer news: Christian Eriksen on Old Trafford radar

http://www.givemefootball.com?

21 February 2012

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is considering a £15 million move for Ajax starlet Christian Eriksen, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The 19-year-old, who featured for the Dutch Champions in the Europa League against Ferguson's men, has been attracting interest from afar.

He makes his first trip to Old Trafford this week during the second leg, which United take a two-goal lead into thanks to Ashley Young and Javier Hernandez's goals.

Eriksen has already had comparisons with Michael Laudrup bestowed on him, while he would be a potential long-term replacement for Paul Scholes, who came out of retirement earlier this season.

A bid has yet to be finalised, with the likes of Luka Modric and Nicolas Gaitan both attracting Ferguson's attention.

Modric was at the centre of a summer transfer window scuffle between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, before finally opting to stay in north London.

Gaitan meanwhile, who made five assists in the Champions League group stage, including against United, has been linked with a move to the Premier League champions, and their near-neighbours Manchester City.

However, the success of previous Eredivisie recruits, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam, means Ferguson is unlikely to shy away from bringing in Eriksen despite still being in his early years.

“The standard of Dutch football is always good,” he said. “The Dutch people will tell you the problem is they always want to leave.

“That’s unfortunately the way it is with Dutch teams, but it is to their credit that keep producing new ones.”

It would be fantastic if United signs him. He great player with amazing skill. He is more attacking player but he could be the main playmaker. Sign him together with Jack Rodwell, United will have in dept players in midfield that consist youth, intelligence and energetic. Pogba and Cleverley would be another partner that could be used in the rotation system.

Yes yes sign him.