Saturday, February 16, 2013

Vidic and Ferdinand no longer Manchester United's first-choice pairing, admits Sir Alex Ferguson

The Red Devils boss feels that the successful partnership at the heart of his pace-setting team's defence may have to give way to the emerging figure of Jonny Evans

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has acknowledged that Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic may no longer be his first-choice pairing at centre-back.

The Serbian played the entire 90 minutes at Old Trafford against Everton on Sunday but was left out of the side which earned a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid in midweek, with Rio Ferdinand coming in to replace him.

The United boss admitted that it was a risk leaving the 31-year-old out of the Champions League tie but ultimately believes that he did the right thing in rotating his two senior centre-backs.


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30/1	Jonny Evans is 30/1 with BetVictor to score the first goal in Manchester United v Reading

"I had my doubts about whether I was doing the right thing or not because he was fantastic against Everton but I stuck by what we’ve been doing with him," Sir Alex told The Sun. "Three days [between games] to my mind was a risk.

"It would have been the same for Ferdinand; if he had played on the Sunday I would have had my doubts whether to play him on Wednesday."

Jonny Evans played both matches for the Red Devils and Sir Alex believes that the Northern Irishman is developing into an outstanding player.

The 71-year-old added: "Jonny has emerged as a real top defender and his form has been fantastic.

"The thing about young players, particularly defenders, when you get consistency from them you know you’re on the right track with them. I think Jonny has shown great consistency in the last year.

"If you remember what I said about last year, it wasn’t until Ferdinand and Evans played regularly together that we got a run going."

Friday, February 15, 2013

Scholes suffers injury setback, Sir Alex Ferguson says

The veteran midfielder missed the 1-1 draw with Real Madrid with a knee concern but had been expected to return for the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Reading.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that Paul Scholes is set to miss two additional weeks through injury.
The 38-year-old midfielder has been struggling with a knee problem that forced him to sit out the side's mid-week UEFA Champions League trip to the Bernabeu in Madrid, with the initial hope of involvement against Reading in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday.

Ferguson revealed on Friday that the veteran is sidelined for "another couple of weeks," though after having a bit of a setback.

"It is a knee injury, which has been bothering him a bit," Ferguson told reporters. "We have tried another treatment during the week. He will probably be back in another couple of weeks."

On a more positive note, Ferguson confirmed that the squad came away from Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid unscathed, but he will be making changes for the visit of Reading in three days’ time.

"I will make some [changes]," Ferguson said. "We want to get to the quarterfinals (of the FA Cup), and we do expect to qualify."
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

De Gea: Casillas could be missed

Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea is ready to renew his rivalry with Real Madrid - albeit without a familiar face at the opposite end of the Bernabeu.

Real's legendary number one Iker Casillas will miss Wednesday's Champions League match after suffering a fracture in his left hand and De Gea admitted it's a significant piece of team news when asked about it at United's pre-match press conference.
"Every time Iker Casillas is not there, he is a great loss," said De Gea, a former servant of Real's local rivals Atletico Madrid.
"It is a great loss because he is the captain of Real Madrid and Spain. But Real have two other keepers who can play as well as Casillas does."
When Casillas came off with the injury, early in last month's Copa del Rey match at Valencia, he was replaced by substitute keeper Antonio Adan. But Jose Mourinho has since signed the more experienced Diego Lopez, who began his career at Real and was in goal when Los Blancos beat Sevilla 4-1 at the weekend.
Ex-United star Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in that game, as De Gea is acutely aware.

Rafael prepared for Ronaldo

Rafael hopes he is perfectly prepared for the likely assignment of keeping Cristiano Ronaldo quiet in Wednesday's Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Sir Alex Ferguson hinted some time ago that he would pin his faith in the Brazilian to keep Ronaldo in check, which may seem a tall order considering the former United favourite's current form.
However, Rafael has been impressing all term and was the outstanding player in Sunday's 2-0 victory against Everton, while also managing to stifle man-of-the-moment Gareth Bale during the recent draw at Tottenham.
Not only will these factors give confidence to the South American but he has also stressed that Ronaldo is not an unknown quantity after coming up against him in training many times at Carrington.
When asked by United Review about Bale, Rafael replied: "He’s quick. I have to say that he is very quick! If you concentrate, and that’s the key word, and read the game, it helps.
"It’s important because he’s quicker than me, even though I am quick as well. Sometimes if you can read the ball before it gets to him, it can be effective."
In terms of whether marking Bale could be seen as good practice for coming face-to-face with Ronaldo, he said: "Of course. They are both very quick but maybe they are just different. Ronaldo is right-footed and plays a different type of game. He can come inside and shoot with power but both of them are tough players to come up against.
"I think I know Ronaldo as I trained with him. I know what he can do because I played and trained
with him a lot. So he’s not the type of opponent where you would say he is good but I don’t know what he can do. I know what he can do. I trained with him so, yes, it could be a help.
"To be honest, he helped me a lot when I arrived here. He took me aside and helped me outside of the pitch a lot because I did not speak English very well and obviously he is Portuguese.
"For me, he’s the best player in the world. I think he is the complete player and I really like him. I think he is the number one."

Ando will enjoy Real test

Anderson says a combination of concentration and enjoyment will be vital to Manchester United’s mentality in Wednesday’s Champions League encounter with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
The Reds touched down in Spain on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the first-leg clash in the pick of the last 16 ties. But while the Brazilian midfielder insists that the players are fully focused on the task in hand, he adds that it is just as important to enjoy an occasion as big as Wednesday night.
“These are the games you want to play in. We know we have to be very focused but it’s also important to enjoy games like this,” he told ManUtd.com.
“It will be a hard game. Of course, Madrid are a big team but we are a big team too, with quality players and experienced players. We are playing well and looking forward to it.
“Concentration is going to be very important. Everyone knows it’s not a normal game – it’s a big match – but you have to try
and play your normal football and work hard together as a team. Hopefully we can come back with a good result and finish the job at Old Trafford.”
Of course, Wednesday’s meeting will see a reunion with Anderson’s close friend Cristiano Ronaldo. The Brazilian says the pair remain in regular contact but maintains football will come before friendship come kick-off.
“I talk a lot with Cristiano, but not just him. Pepe is my friend too, we played in Portugal together. We are all great friends, but when you step out on the pitch no-one is friends because we all want to win!”

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Mourinho talks up Real Madrid-Manchester United clash

The Portuguese has expressed his excitement at the upcoming Champions League fixture while also re-affirming his "fantastic relationship" with counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson

Jose Mourinho has described Real Madrid's mouth-watering Champions League clash with Manchester United as "the match the world is waiting for".

United travel to Bernabeu for the first leg of their last-16 tie in midweek, and the los Blancos boss was seen at Old Trafford to watch the current Premier League leaders defeat Everton 2-0 and extend the gap between themselves and Manchester City to 12 points at the top of the table.
And despite the attractions of Bayern Munich taking on Arsenal and AC Milan facing off against Barcelona in the same round of the competition, Mourinho believes the tie between his own side and United is the main lure for spectators.

"It is the match the world is waiting for," Mourinho told MUTV.
"The world is not waiting for other matches in the Champions League, so I hope we can give the world what they are waiting for."
Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson are known to enjoy a good relationship and the former, who has won the Champions League on two occasions with both Porto and Inter, was quick to praise his managerial counterpart.
"I feel privileged about that because he is such an important person in the world of football and, more importantly than that, he is good person," Mourinho added.
"I have always had a fantastic relationship and I am proud of it. We have had so many matches between us which started with Porto. We had some with Chelsea, Inter and now Real. At all of my clubs I have met Manchester United and Sir Alex.
"Of course, I want to win and he wants to win, but I believe the loser will have a little bit of space to feel a little bit happy because of the friendship, but I want to win."

Monday, February 11, 2013

Manchester United - Real Madrid not all about Ronaldo, claims Evans

Feb 12, 2013 12:45:00 AM

The Red Devils centre-back believes there is more to los Blancos than the Portugal star and that both clubs have a lot of expectation to live up to ahead of their clash this week

Jonny Evans claims that Manchester United's game against Real Madrid is not all about Cristiano Ronaldo facing his former club.

The Northern Ireland international believes that the clash is the highlight of the round due to the history between the two clubs and not the Portuguese star.

"I am sure one or two of the lads have kept in contact and Nani was on international duty with him," Evans told the club's official website.

"I don't know if he has spoken to anyone but I am sure he is looking forward to the game as much as we are.

"But I don't think it is just about Cristiano Ronaldo. It goes back further. There is the history of the two clubs. It is the glamour tie of the round. Everyone is looking forward to it."

While Evans took time to hail Ronaldo's improvement since leaving United, he warned that Jose Mourinho's side contain several other players who could damage the Red Devils on Wednesday.

"Cristiano has changed his game. He has adapted," he added.

"When he was playing here, he was a right or left winger and expected to work back a lot. That was the way we played. I don't think Real Madrid play like that. He has adapted his game to suit them."

"They don't just have Cristiano Ronaldo who can hurt you.

"They have a lot of different players who can cause you problems. He will be the one everyone will be looking to as the man to stop and we have to make sure we keep him quiet.

"We have had a great recent record in the Champions League until last year," Evans added. "We have gathered that experience to make sure that we do progress and get to finals and semi-finals.

"I suppose Real Madrid have always had that. You are expected and if you don't do it, there is uproar. We have that pressure on us. I am sure it will be a great occasion and everyone is looking forward to it as much as we are."