Manchester United

[mrbojangles]

.......keep your hair on though mate, its only a laugh.

Yeah i know it is buddy

[redrus]

Ronaldo claims award

By Chris Stanton-Sky - Created on 8 Dec 2006

Cristiano Ronaldo has won his first Barclays Premiership Player of the Month Award following a number of scintillating performances for Manchester United in November.

The Portuguese was instrumental in United remaining unbeaten during the month, as Sir Alex Ferguson's side extended their lead of the Premiership to six points.

As well as creating numerous goalscoring opportunities for his team-mates, Ronaldo brought his shooting boots to Old Trafford.

Having scored with a free-kick in United's win over Portsmouth, Ronaldo was also on target with another long-range effort in his team's success over Everton.

The winger's two goals in November took his season's tally in the Premiership to five, while he also has three assists to his name.

Jim Hytner, from the Barclays Awards Panel, said: "Ronaldo has been in excellent form, putting in a string of outstanding performances on the wing. His strike against Portsmouth has got to be a contender for goal of the month."

The decision was made by the Barclays Awards Panel, which includes representatives from football's governing bodies, the media and fans.

redrus

*number 10....?

Edited December 8, 2006 by redrus

[muckypups]

Not at our best..and still a tidy 3-1..

City make a song and dance ... and not much else

Paul Wilson

Sunday December 10, 2006

The Observer

'This is the one,' sang the Stone Roses as the teams entered the arena. 'Welcome to the Manchester derby,' boomed the PA man as the players lined up on the pitch.

Then Graham Poll blew his whistle and the big-match atmosphere evaporated quicker than the rumour that Marcello Lippi was about to be installed as the new United manager. Instead of raising their game for a derby, City followed the limp example set by Spurs at Arsenal last week and looked as if they would have preferred to have been somewhere else.

Being upstaged by United is nothing new to City - they have not won at Old Trafford since Denis Law's famous back-heel on the day United were relegated in 1974 - but the presence of Italy's World Cup-winning coach at the match briefly threatened to wipe the contribution made by Stuart Pearce and his players off the back pages.

That would not have been difficult because City did not make any contribution until late in the second half, when the game was as good as over. Lippi turned out to be in attendance to promote a charity match next season, although that did not stop a few wags suggesting he might be in charge already when United withdrew Louis Saha in the second half and sent on the defensive John O'Shea. The Italian is a possible long-term successor to Sir Alex Ferguson, although the operative words are long and term. It was always an outlandish idea that Ferguson would hand over the reins as his team moved nine points clear at the top of the Premiership.

United achieved that objective comfortably, although Lippi was probably wondering why they did not wrap up the points earlier by moving nine goals clear of City.

The tone was set in the opening minute, when Cristiano Ronaldo skipped past Ben Thatcher with his first touch of the ball, only to be flattened by a foul from Joey Barton. Five minutes later, Ronaldo laid on the opening goal for Wayne Rooney, picking out the striker's run with a searching cross from the right, and eight minutes after that the most inevitable booking of the day arrived when Thatcher stopped his Portuguese tormentor with a rugby tackle.

So far, so predictable. The City fans knew the score. With mismatches breaking out all over the pitch - Thatcher against Ronaldo, Claudio Reyna against Paul Scholes, the entire United front line against Nicky Weaver - the visiting support concentrated on their one area of supremacy and ran through an impressive repertoire of chants and taunts. First and funniest was 'City reject', directed at Giggs when he was taking a corner. Not strictly accurate, but even Giggs had to smile at the cheek of it. The lack of atmosphere was then remarked upon, there was an ironic chorus of 'United - not for sale', and then, as the interval approached, 'Time for prawn sandwiches' to the tune of Donna e Mobile.

Between singing songs and waving inflatable bananas, the City fans might have noticed that United were not making their superiority count, although the visitors were doing even less to threaten a comeback and when Saha redeemed a wasteful first half with a goal on the stroke of the interval the contest seemed over.

Yet you can never tell with derbies and City breathed life into the second half by sending on a substitute goalkeeper who denied Rooney a hat-trick, then pulling a goal back after another substitute, Stephen Ireland, beat Nemanja Vidic impressively to set up Hatem Trabelsi's first goal for the club. Just for a few minutes an edge crept into the game. United were not so much frightened of City as terrified that, after squandering enough chances to win three games, they might be pegged back by their neighbours in a manner that would not strike fear into Chelsea at all.

It is not difficult to see why United are pinning their hopes on Henrik Larsson. Their lack of a clinical finish in front of goal let City back into a game they barely seemed to have turned up for and although Ronaldo spared United blushes late on, this was the same Ronaldo who had missed an easier chance from a similar position a fortnight ago against Sheffield United.

City finished with 10 men, after Bernardo Corradi's risible dive even denied their fans the moral high ground they had occupied when vilifying the grass-bound Ronaldo. Not that it stopped them. When the third goal went in and home fans began to leave, the visitors responded with a heartfelt '###### off back to London', but City must start bringing more than songs to Old Trafford. Otherwise, with a nine-point lead, the United DJ might give the Stone Roses a rest and start playing Oasis. 'Where were you when we were getting high?'

[muckypups]

Going through the Sunday papers I came across this great interview with Eric Cantona... long..but an interesting read..

In the court of King Cantona

Eric Cantona’s short reign at Manchester United won him the zealous devotion of many fans, who almost a decade after he left still chant his name. But until now, he has kept his distance. David Walsh tracks him down

The look is full of disdain. “Cantona was a footballer,” he says, “not an actor.” This tall, thin young man is in charge of the sprawling DVD department at the FNAC store near St Lazare station in the centre of Paris and cannot tolerate the suggestion. “Cantona,” you try to explain, “has been in 11 films, some of them well received.” His disdain deepens. “We don’t have any of them in this store.” He says this standing on a warehouse-sized floor, surrounded by Hollywood trash, Bollywood trash, horror trash, every kind of trash. “Could you check on your computer?” He finds Cantona’s second film, Le Bonheur Est dans le Pré (Happiness Is in the Meadow), momentarily wonders if he should own up, then admits: “Yeah, we do have one.”

At an even bigger store at Les Halles, the assistant is polite. “Nobody in France considers Eric Cantona an actor,” he says. He types “Cantona” into his computer. “See,” he says, “nothing.” The first eight years of Cantona’s life in professional football were spent in France: Auxerre, Martigues, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nimes. Few considered him a good footballer. Unloved, he left for England.

here, among the Red Devils of Manchester United, he played like an angel, seeming to glide through games, seeing the action as if observing it from on high. He made extraordinary passes, scored wonderful goals, but if there was one thing that distinguished him from the rest, it was the theatricality of his play. He saw himself not as a player but as an actor; technically gifted, assiduously prepared, but still a showman Sometimes, after scoring one of his better goals, he would stand motionless, his chest pushed out, his chin tilted towards the heavens, regally soaking up the acclamation. More than any other Manchester United player, Cantona was the reason the club won its first league title for 26 years in 1992. He played 181 matches and left four years after joining United, but in that short time he became an iconic figure.

Imaginative, creative and intelligent, he was a great footballer. As a man he was passionate, intelligent and volatile. And then there was his Gallic hauteur and strange psychological depth. There was only ever one Eric Cantona.

Nothing became his life at Old Trafford as much as his leaving of it. “See you later,” he said to his team-mates as they got off the coach after a testimonial game at Coventry at the end of the 1997 season. They had just won the Premiership, Cantona’s fourth, and a week or so later the club announced his retirement. By then he was already out of the country on his way to another life. He was 30 and in the full flush of his health.

He doesn’t so much walk as spring into the foyer of the Hôtel Westminster on the Rue de la Paix. It is reassuring to see him on his own: no PR person, no accompanying agent, no need for the crutches of celebrity. It is his physical appearance that knocks you over: he is 40 but looks 35, the smile never leaves his eyes and there’s not a hint that professional sport once owned his body.

Of course, it isn’t just good looks. He dresses with immaculate casualness: the ordinary jacket that sits so right, the jeans, the top, everything cool. Back in the old days at Manchester, Lee Sharpe and Roy Keane would torture the centre half Steve Bruce for the way he dressed. Bruce would point at Cantona’s woolly cardigan and cowboy boots: “What about him?” “Brucey,” they’d say, “he carries it off.”

Cantona has long done that, and not just with his clothes. The clever flicks, the outrageous volleys, even that kung-<deleted> kick at Selhurst Park had a certain style. Today he wants to win me over: it can be seen in the way he smiles, pauses before answering and then looks me in the eye. It is as if he is saying: “I know in your job you are faced with people who speak to you as if you were an object – I see you as a person.”

You know this is another Eric Cantona performance and, as with many others in the past, you are willingly swept along.

His life, he wants you to know, is good. Actually, it is very good. He is filming in Paris this week, Le Deuxième Souffle (The Second Breath), a remake of the 1966 Jean-Pierre Melville movie, and it’s a good part. He talks animatedly about French cinema and how in this movie he is working with the respected French actor Daniel Auteuil.

His enthusiasm and his openness are unexpected, as is the understated charm. Is this smiling and pleasant man the post-football Cantona? “I was like this when I played,” he says, “but I did some things, like when I went after that fan, and that becomes a strong image. People always have it in their minds. That was just one part of me. Most of the time I was very tranquil. My blood has a good circulation, I feel good about my body, about my thinking, I am not stressed, not contracted. I feel like an elastic.”

He wants to explain what retirement from football meant to him, and why he chose cinema: “Retirement is like a death. When you are a footballer, you do something very public, you do it because it is a passion and you feel alive when you’re doing it. You feel alive also because people recognise you for the job you do. Then you quit and it’s like a death. A lot of footballers are afraid and that is why they go on TV to speak about the game. They don’t speak to teach the public or to give a point of view, they do it for themselves. It is important because it helps them to feel alive again, to deal with their fears about this death.

“It was easier for me because I chose to quit when I was still young, and I didn’t quit because I was injured or not able to play at a high level. I also knew why fans were interested in me, I wasn’t naive about that and I prepared for a life where I wouldn’t be recognised. But I have done something public, cinema, so maybe I too was afraid of not being recognised.”

From the beginning, he understood the risks of trying to earn recognition as an actor. He was starting late, without any formal training and with the burden of being “Eric Cantona, the footballer”. “It was very difficult at the beginning, for two reasons: I didn’t have experience and I wasn’t very good.”

He notices the recently acquired copy of Le Bonheur Est dans le Pré sitting on the table and suggests it’s not worth the trouble, as it came too early in his career and his was a minor part. There is one film he is willing to be judged on, a 2003 cult movie called L’Outremangeur (The Over-Eater), in which he plays the lead part, Police Inspector Richard Séléna, who is good at his job but is also a compulsive eater with a dysfunctional personal life. His bulimia stems from a childhood trauma and the plot centres on a pact between Cantona’s character and a female murderer. To remain free, she must dine with him for a year. Cantona put on two stone in weight, wore a fat-suit and delivered the performance of his fledgling career. “He gets inside the skin of a deeply lonely man and manages to make him touching, even profoundly moving,” said Dominique Borde in Le Figaro. “Cantona brings credibility to this obese character… it was a daring challenge but the former sportsman finally earns his stripes as an actor,” said the reviewer in Le Matin. “Cantona is amazingly dignified and repressed as the police inspector,” said the critic Arthur Blose.

“The film is a kind of Beauty and the Beast,” says Cantona. “I am overweight and ugly; she is young and beautiful. I can’t look at myself in the mirror, because I cannot accept my size. But in her company, I begin to fall in love and to accept myself. I look into her eyes and for the first time in my life I have found a mirror, the only one I can look at. I think it is a very nice movie.”

As he talks about L’Outremangeur, he momentarily becomes Inspector Séléna and his eyes express the joy of the man who, through a beautiful woman, finds himself.

The ease with which Cantona shows emotion came with his DNA, especially from the genes of Albert, his father. They lived at Caillols, one of the less glamorous suburbs of Marseilles, and Eric, the middle son in a family of three boys, grew up with a deep love of his father.

As a psychiatric nurse, Albert couldn’t afford to travel, but the boy could see that in his imagination his father had been everywhere. After returning from school, Eric would go to the studio in their home where Albert worked on his paintings. More than 30 years later, Cantona can still recall the smell of the paint.

Albert watched his son play and learn football. He would tell him what he had to do to improve and Eric practised and practised. “It wasn’t necessary for my father to tell me I was good, I could see it in his eyes. It’s better if it’s not said but shown in other ways.” Albert’s encouragement instilled a work ethic in Cantona that would amaze all those who saw him during the early days at Manchester. His attitude to practice rubbed off on his team-mates and radically improved the quality of training at the club.

According to his son, Albert’s painting was technically very good and creative. What Eric most remembers, though, is his father’s passion. “He was passionate about many things. He was a strong man but he was also sensitive. He explained something to you and sometimes he would start to cry. He gave us this passion and love for life.

That’s very important: when your education is built around that, it is solid. And you can cry, even when you are a strong man. You can find something beautiful and cry simply because it is so beautiful. Is it a problem to cry? Some families think a man who cries is like a woman. I don’t think so. You can find emotion in the beauty of things and, to me, that’s love.”

The same passion burned inside the son and was expressed in his football, often in the most self-destructive ways. It killed the first, French half of his career. The young Cantona called Henri Michel, then manager of the French team, a “shitbag” in 1988, and a year later he threw his Marseilles jersey on the ground after being substituted in a match against Torpedo Moscow. Just as the kung-<deleted> kick became a defining image of his time in England, the picture of him flinging his jersey into the mud symbolised his eight-year-long frustration in the French league.

Neither did he go quietly when leaving his native country. After receiving a suspension from the French federation, he called each individual on the disciplinary committee an idiot. So he left la belle France for the industrial north of England, and one of sport’s great ironies was about to be played out: French footballer blessed with imagination, skill, creativity and beguiling style feels crushed in his native country and finds a new and welcoming home in England.

He doesn’t believe it’s so surprising: “For many years in France, teams have played 11 sheep. Nobody plays with imagination. The last one was Zidane, and he was the only one. All the players are the same: same personality, same way of playing, same formations. In the time of Platini, there was a lot of imagination. But for a long time now, it is robot station.

“When I came to England they had their game, but they wanted to open it up to something more. I felt that. They wanted to keep the structure they had, the way they passed, but they wanted something different. And what they added, everybody enjoyed. It was not because of me that this change happened. I just arrived exactly when there was this desire for something with more imagination. Since I’ve left, a lot of players are showing this imagination; even the young English players are showing it.”

He came with his wife, Isabelle, and their young son, Raphael, and for three years the family lived in a modest semidetached house not far from Roundhay Park in Leeds. Isabelle taught French at Leeds University while her husband taught football at grounds all around the country.

When they moved to Manchester, they lived in another small semidetached house at Boothstown. The modest house was a stark reminder of his individual nature: his passion was for the game, not the trappings. Ask him why he chose to live not among those he played with but among those he played for, and he answers matter-of-factly: “It’s boring to be in a big house. When you are four people, why would you buy a house with seven bedrooms? Why would I do that, if not to show people that I am rich? I buy a house that I need not to show people I am rich – they already know that.

“The man who buys the big house with all the bedrooms he doesn’t need shows he’s rich, but maybe he’s not rich inside. For me the atmosphere inside a house is very important: everywhere I have been with my family, it has been cosy. When I was a footballer I never thought I was different to other people, I just had a different job. People who are successful want to show they are different, they live in the big house and try to live in another world. I want to live in the same world. I don’t have the pretension to be somewhere else. If I have 11 children, I will try to get a house with 10 bedrooms.”

Because of Isabelle’s job at Leeds University, they kept their house in Leeds for two years after he joined Manchester United. There were attacks on the house; fireworks through the letterbox, car tyres slashed, but he felt no resentment towards Leeds fans. “I understood their feelings. If I had been one of them, I might have done the same.”

He left United in May 1997, 41/2 years after he had arrived. In that period, United won the Premiership four times; the one they lost coincided with the season Cantona missed because of his eight-month ban for kicking the Crystal Palace fan. The end came because the well that once held his passion for the game had run dry. He noticed it in the way he became bothered by the growing commercialism of the game and the pursuit of merchandising revenue at Manchester United. And in that last season, he no longer had the enthusiasm for the unique importance of each match.

“What gives you adrenaline for football is the context of the game, and when you start not to care about that, it is because you’re losing your passion. Then, the only reason for continuing is money. I had always said, since I was 20, this is a passion and if one day I lose this passion, I quit. And I did. I never played for money. If I had never been paid, I would still have played with the same passion.”

Once the decision was made, he had to move away from football. He couldn’t stay in England, couldn’t return to France, so he went to Barcelona. He’d been there as a 10-year-old visiting his maternal grandparents, and it was such a sweet memory, the place drew him back.

Retirement offered the time to pursue other interests: cinema, photography, painting and, to pleasure body as well as soul, he played beach football. Cantona has returned to Old Trafford for three testimonial games, the last one for Ryan Giggs in 2001, but otherwise he makes a point of not looking back. He has no contact with any of his old team-mates. “I’ve always been paranoid about the telephone,” he says. “When I call, I never know if I disturb them. Face to face, I can see the other person is open to speaking. On the phone, you can lie easily. I prefer the pleasures of [face-to-face] conversation.”

He has no regret about the lack of contact with his old United comrades. He disagrees with the suggestion that it’s normal for ex-footballers to lose touch. “I don’t think it’s normal. Some footballers are close. It’s just me.”

And then, almost as an aside, he explains why it is better to have the memories rather than any post-career camaraderie: “In our football years, we are strong because we’re all in the same boat and we are in danger. We work together to survive, then when you quit, you don’t have that goal any more. You’re not on that boat and you are left with only the memory. What you know is that you will never live again like you have lived on that boat. That is a frustration because what you had was so strong.

In life, there is nothing as intense as what you felt as a footballer and I prefer to leave it at that. In real life, what could we do together? We could meet for an evening, have a drink, speak about the past and what then? After that it becomes ordinary.

“It is like you have had an intense love affair with somebody and you separate. Later you can meet for a coffee, but what good does it do? You’re not going to get back together and you’re not going to feel like you did before.”

As for United, they remain his club but the voice of reason inside his head asks how can he support a team owned by an American investor, which now exists to make sure there is enough profit to justify the investment. He can find no justification for supporting such a club, except that his heart keeps him there.

We are speaking four days after a game against Sheffield United. “Oh yes, I still follow each result. One-nil down to Sheffield United before half-time – they won with two Rooney goals.”

After four years in Barcelona, the Cantonas moved to Marseilles, and then his marriage to Isabelle ended. “Divorce is not easy, it never is easy. I lived 20 years with my ex-wife; we had two children, Raphael and Joséphine. She is from a family that has not known one divorce; I am from a family where nobody has divorced. For the children and for us, it was difficult.”

He now lives in Paris with his girlfriend and says if you visited his apartment you would not know he once played football. Acting and photography are now his greatest interests, and when the producers of an impressive 35-kilo book on Manchester United asked if he’d like to show some of his photographs in the soon-to-be-published work, he agreed. Coming up with his own ideas and compositions, he worked with the French photographer Richard Aujard to produce five self-portraits (which appear in the newsprint edition of the Magazine). He says he has an explanation for each one, but to offer them would be to reduce the experience for those who will see the images. “I don’t say they are art – that would be pretentious – but in this world you have the freedom of the people who do it, and the freedom of those who observe it.”

They are striking images that show the diverse ways in which he sees himself. A football appears in two photographs, reflecting his long-held view that he can never get away from what he did as a footballer. He sees the game as a shadow that follows him everywhere, a sometimes bothersome and always constant shadow.

There are no plans for his future, a privilege that has come from football’s riches. He goes with the flow of his passion; away from football to cinema, photography, painting, whatever excites him. What he is certain about is that there is much more to be done. “My dream was to live in the world of creation. In football I did that; now I have other opportunities to do that. The only thing I fear is death.

“Sometimes when I take a flight I am a little afraid, because we can die in a plane crash very quickly. In cars too, but in cars you have some control. I have things on my memory stick and I never take that with me when I am flying. I say to my partner, the person I am living with, ‘If something happened to me, I want you to read what is on that memory stick and do what is there.’ She says, ‘No, no, no, it’s not mine.’

“I tell her, ‘I want you to do these things if you can, to say to people: it was Eric’s wish that this would happen.’ If I die with the memory stick, I die with everything. I want to go with the possibility that what I haven’t achieved will be achieved by somebody else. I’ve always thought, now more than ever, that it is not how you live your life but how people will remember you.”

Before him, there is a United jersey I wish him to sign. He smiles, now recognising the shadow as a friend. He asks to whom he should write. “Dan,” I say, “Dan is the boy’s name. He’s a young footballer, sometimes gets into trouble with referees, plays a little like you once did.”

After writing “To Dan”, he stops, the marker poised three inches over the jersey. For almost two minutes he thinks about what he will say. The silence fills the room.

Eventually he begins to write: “Ne jamais perdre sa passion! Ou s’en éloigner vite, Eric Cantona” – Never lose your passion, or if you do, get away quickly.

And that was it from Eric Cantona. He offered thanks for the water, pulled up his collar and disappeared into Parisian evenings

The United Opus, edited by Justyn Barnes, is published by Kraken Sport and Media, price £3,000 to £4,250 (dependent on edition). It is available at www.krakenopus.com, or on 020 7213 9587

[mrbojangles]

Not at our best..and still a tidy 3-1..

City make a song and dance ... and not much else

I'm sorry muckypups but that must be the most bias write up of a match ever. What a load of tosh

Then Graham Poll

And that to55er is a Red

All in all though, you did deserve to win. Our defensive blunders cocked us up.

[redrus]

Thought you were calling me a tosser then MrB.....

Manchester United 3 Manchester City 1

by Footymad

Match report for the home win in the early kick-off versus Manchester City

Manchester United went nine points clear of Chelsea at the top of the Premiership, but this was not one of the smooth silky performances the Red Devils have turned on so many times this season.

Neighbours City made them fight for the points, although some disastrous defending by the Blues contributed to their downfall.

City had drawn on their last two visits to Old Trafford and they raised their game way beyond an away record which had seen them lose six of their previous away games in the Premiership this season.

Wayne Rooney was the catalyst in United's victory - lively throughout with his pace and imagination causing worries in City minds and errors in their feet.

Rooney missed several chances, but the one he put away in the sixth minute undoubtedly opened up the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo bent in a low cross from the right, City skipper Sylvain Distin made a complete hash of his attempted clearance while Richard Dunne failed to get to the ball and Rooney tapped it home right footed from eight yards.

Rooney was through again soon after, although this time Dunne recovered to clear as the England man overran the ball.

City's first chance came in the 20th minute when Bernardo Corradi flicked on Ben Thatcher's cross from the left and Micah Richards hurled himself at the ball to head wide from eight yards.

There was a moment of vintage Rooney in the 24th minute when City could only clear a Ryan Giggs corner to him standing just outside the box. Rooney chested the ball down superbly before getting in a vicious curling shot which Nicky Weaver saved well.

Weaver denied Rooney again after 37 minutes, while another tremendous header by Richards from Joey Barton's 43rd minute corner caused panic in United's defence and Georgios Samaras shot wide from close range.

City looked to have weathered the storm - then up popped Rooney on the stroke of half-time. Hatem Trabelsi had played the ball back towards Dunne from the touchline, but Rooney nipped in to beat the Irishman.

He touched it on to Gabriel Heinze and his low cross from the left side of the City box eluded Distin at the near post and was tucked in off the underside of the bar by Louis Saha as he slid in to beat Weaver.

Weaver suffered a dead leg as a result and was replaced by Andreas Isaksson at the start of the second half.

The Swedish international goalkeeper, dogged by persistent injury since his £2million signing from French club Rennes during the summer, was making his City debut and it proved a baptism of fire.

He was forced to parry a blistering Rooney shot in the 53rd minute with Saha ballooning the rebound high over the bar.

The Swede then tipped over a ferocious shot from Giggs and denied Rooney twice, first with a save at full stretch from one shot and then a brilliant point-blank stop to keep out another.

But United had still failed to kill the game off and City equalised after 72 minutes.

Stephen Ireland, a second-half substitute for the injured Claudio Reyna, set up Trabelsi who hit a fierce left-foot shot from the edge of the United penalty area which beat Edwin Van der Sar and went in off the underside of the bar.

United wobbled, but recovered to seal victory 12 minutes later.

Dunne miscued his attempted clearance of Rooney's cross from the left side of the box and Ronaldo hooked the ball in right-footed from six yards.

City suffered another blow in injury time when Corradi, booked for a 61st minute foul, was sent off for a second bookable offence after diving following a challenge with Heinze.

redrus

[redrus]

VIEWS FROM THE BROADSHEETS

Sunday 10th December 2006

United 3 City 1

The Guardian

Reports of Sir Alex Ferguson's departure appear, not for the first time and probably not the last, to be premature. At half time, with Manchester United comfortably ahead, the rumour machine rattled into overdrive about Marcello Lippi's post-match appearance at a press conference alongside Ferguson and United chief executive David Gill.

The idea that Ferguson might stand down in mid-season when his team possess a nine-point lead at the top of the Premiership is about as fanciful as Manchester City expecting to skip away from Old Trafford victorious and singing the praises of their defence of steel. There was no chance of either happening yesterday. And it was confirmed at the press conference that Lippi was present merely to announce a friendly match in March between United and a European team managed by the Italian to commemorate the 50th anniversary of United's entry into European competition.

United were able to squander abundant chances and still see off a City team who made a contest of this only briefly, for about 10 minutes, after Hatem Trabelsi cracked the goal of the match midway through the second half with a swerving left-footer to make it 2-1.

Such a narrow scoreline was mainly down to United's wastefulness. A two-goal cushion by half time barely reflected the chasm in quality between these neighbours offensively. United's two young cavaliers, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, toyed with City's defence from the off and produced some marvellous flashes.

In the fifth minute, Ronaldo's supply line from the right flank was perfect and Rooney arrived to finish with deadly accuracy. It was the first of many chances for a striker who is drifting into dangerous positions so naturally at the moment. The thought of how he will feed off Henrik Larsson's intelligence when the Swede arrives on loan is exciting for United.

Louis Saha was more off colour, but he still managed to double the lead shortly before the break by bundling in Gabriel Heinze's bobbling cross. City were left cursing lamentable defending from Richard Dunne, who lost Rooney, and Sylvain Distin, whose fresh-air kick was partly responsible for Dunne's confusion. 'We gave goals away cheaply and that was very costly,' rued City manager Stuart Pearce.

It was not entirely one-sided, however, because Micah Richards and Georgios Samaras wasted half-chances, but the second period was mainly a case of more opportunities for United. City's substitute goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson, whose form suggested that Nicky Weaver might struggle to reclaim the position, excelled in denying Rooney on a number of occasions.

Trabelsi's spectacular goal roused hopes of a City revival in the blue corner, but they were not helped with the immediate withdrawal of the powerful Richards with a dead leg. 'We could have turned the screw a bit more,' admitted Pearce.

Any anxiety that United might needlessly jettison precious points were ended six minutes from the end, when Rooney jabbed a pass to Ronaldo, who stabbed in the third. City's appeal for offside did not impress referee Graham Poll.

The Telegraph

The phantom Manchester diver was finally brought to book but to everyone's surprise, it was not Cristiano Ronaldo's collar that was felt but Manchester City's Bernardo Corradi. Or rather, it was neither Corradi's collar nor any other part of his kit that was felt before he blatantly threw himself down in the area in stoppage time, earning him a second yellow card from referee Graham Poll after an earlier booking for elbowing Nemanja Vidic.

One can only hope that it finally represented the start of a backlash against the cheats by referees who talk big about punishing villains but rarely do more than wag an admonishing finger. Poll has been vilified for his mistakes both at the World Cup and in recent weeks and missed a date here against Chelsea because of the latter's criticism of him, but he must be praised for his decision yesterday.

As for Ronaldo, his manager Sir Alex Ferguson claims that he is more sinned against than sinning, or certainly more fouled against and the statistics support that view. Before this game, a remarkable 44 free kicks had been awarded for fouls on Ronaldo, twice as many as most Premiership players and topped only by the 49 given against Bolton's El Hadji Diouf, a self-confessed diver.

The season's 45th free kick against Ronaldo came after just 20 seconds when Joey Barton clattered into him and Claudio Reyna, substitute Stephen Ireland and our old friend Ben Thatcher, who ought to be on an ASBO after his act of GBH against Pedro Mendes of Portsmouth, all took turns to hack him down.

Ronaldo, criticised for the way he won a penalty at Middlesbrough last week, stayed upright as often as possible and used his dazzling feet, taped like a boxer's hands and just as deadly, to make his would-be tormentors lose theirs.

He made the opening goal with a cross that had more curl than a lawn bowls wood, causing Sylvain Distin's attempted clearance to turn into an air shot and leaving Wayne Rooney a routine finish for his 50th Premiership goal.

Fittingly, having picked up the Barclays player of the month award beforehand, Ronaldo applied the coup de grace himself, ending a nervous last 15 minutes for United by tapping in with the outside of his left foot when Rooney returned the compliment with a cross from the right. And to think those two were apparently ready to knock seven bells out of one another after the World Cup.

City last won here in 1974 with Denis Law's famous back heel and their fans, with their giant bananas, seem to be still living in the Seventies in memory of that.

This was, at least, one of the more competitive derbies in this stadium, even though it promised to be another one-sided affair when some appalling City defending, plus some Rooney quick thinking, set up Louis Saha for his 12th goal of the season right on half-time.

The Times

Nine points. Roman Abramovich is used to big numbers but he might baulk at the size of the digit attached to Manchester United’s points lead at the top of the Premiership. This could not be what the Russian envisaged when he dipped further into his lake of roubles in the summer to add Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack to a side who had won the Premiership two years running. An oddity of the fixture list means that, with Chelsea playing three times before United do again, the Stamford Bridge side could be back on level terms when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team kick off at West Ham next Sunday.

Ronaldo may have been just offside when he scored his goal but deserved something for the puckishness he brought to a fixture in which flair players of lesser fibre have often hidden. United having retained possession patiently, Gary Neville found Wayne Rooney inside the box and Rooney jinked himself a yard of space in front of Sylvain Distin before driving the ball into the six-yard area where Ronaldo, loitering beyond Richard Dunne, cracked a volley past Andreas Isaksson.

“3-1 in your Superbowl,” United fans crowed, throwing City supporters’ insults regarding the Glazers back in their faces. Glee gathered when Bernardo Corradi was sent off when, already booked for an elbow on Nemanja Vidic, he attracted another yellow card, following a blatant swoon at the feet of John O’Shea. “The referee got it right,” said Pearce. “I thought our player went down too cheaply and I’ve had a chat with him about that.”

Ronaldo had Thatcher booked when the only way the poor full-back could imagine stopping his opponent was by shoving him in the chest, but it was City who began running at United. Barton and Claudio Reyna were more eager in the tackle than Paul Scholes and the laid-back Michael Carrick, and Vassell’s pace was troubling Neville. A long free-kick saw Corradi and Vidic jump together but miss the ball and Micah Richards got there before Gabriel Heinze to head goalwards and then head the ball again as Rio Ferdinand closed, but it dropped wide.

United had not been dormant following their opener, and the force of a Rooney volley almost knocked Weaver into his own net as he parried it away, but the home team seemed too relaxed about their slender lead.

Louis Saha fattened it on the beat of half-time. Trabelsi dallied by the corner flag and made a poor attempt to find Dunne. Rooney intercepted and fed Heinze, who drove in a shot from a tight angle. His effort flashed across the six-yard box, where Saha arrived and poked the ball against Weaver. Topspin sent it teetering upwards and bouncing across the line.

United were more urgent in the second period and Isaksson, on for Weaver, made his case to resume as City’s No 1 when saving point-blank from Rooney after Giggs found the youngster with a volleyed cross.

Pearce also brought Stephen Ireland off his bench, and the Irishman brought more guile to City’s attacking. Ireland twisted past Vidic and drew Heinze before cleverly setting up Trabelsi, and the Tunisian rounded Ferdinand before curling the ball beautifully beyond Van der Sar, and in off the bar, from the edge of the box.

With 18 minutes remaining City had a chance but lost Richards to injury, then another goal, then Corradi. A triple whammy. United, meanwhile, rejoice in the power of nine.

redrus

[redrus]

United to play against a European XI

From the MEN

United will play against a Europe XI to commemorate the 50th anniversaries of the club's European Cup debut and the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

The charity game, scheduled for March 13 next year, will be played at Old Trafford and will see a United XI take on a team of stars coached by Italy's World Cup-winning boss Marcello Lippi.

"I accepted the invitation immediately," Lippi said at a press conference after the Manchester derby. "I'm delighted by the prospect of such a game and I am already looking forward to taking on my great friend Sir Alex Ferguson."

redrus

[redrus]

Ferguson happy with the team.

Ferguson was happy with the performance yesterday and was obviously pleased to win.

"We are playing well, our form is terrific, and I’m pleased,"

"There is plenty for us to navigate but hopefully we have the ability. I don’t see why we can’t do it.

"We had fantastic opportunities but at other times we had to fight and scrap. City are such a big team and you have to deal with that. They are difficult to play against.

"Van der Sar had two great saves to make and we had to earn the right to win."

"We showed great determination when it really mattered and finished the game off."

Ferguson will be an Arsenal fan for the afternoon today.

He said: "We can relax and watch the game and support the Gunners.

"It will be a tight game, a hard game between two great sides. Hopefully we will be in a better position after the match."

Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1.

redrus

[redrus]

Vidic dedicates his goals to a poignant memory

By Steve Tongue, Football Correspondent for The Independant

Published: 10 December 2006

2006 was threatening to become one of the more vexing years in the young career of Nemanja Vidic, the central defender of Manchester United and Serbia-now-without-Montenegro. Ring-rusty when thrown into the Premiership in January with an extravagant £7.2 million fee around his neck, he struggled to make an impression; desperate to win over United followers at the World Cup in June, he fell victim to a tackle in training by Mateja Kezman and missed the whole show as his team-mates lost all three games, including a 6-0 humiliation by Argentina.

How's your luck? Not good, until the end of September, when it suddenly changed with a return to the United side for two good workouts, away to Reading and Benfica. Tall, strong and better-looking than a proper old-fashioned centre-half has any right to be, Vidic has hardly missed a game since. He already has one player-of-the-month award from the club's supporters to his name and was outstanding again as United recovered in fine style to win the home game with Benfica last Wednesday, qualifying as one of England's quartet of group winners for the Champions' League knockout stage.

"I'm enjoying it and playing well," he said later, before elaborating on the difficulties of joining United more than a month after the end of his second season in Russia with Spartak Moscow. "In the first two or three months in Manchester, I found it difficult to settle. I had rested 40 days, the team [united] had played 30 games, I start to play and I am not ready. If you want to play in England, you need to be 100 per cent ready. I was told it is strong and quick here. Now I'm used to that, I do a good pre-season and feel much better."

Much better certainly than after his debut alongside Rio Ferdinand at Blackburn last February in the partnership supposed to bring stability to United's defence for possibly the first time since Jaap Stam's sudden departure; Ferdinand was sent off, United conceded three goals in the first half and were beaten 4-3. With the other January signing, Patrice Evra, finding the adjustment to English football equally fraught, Sir Alex Ferguson's judgement was under question. It has been vindicated since. Vidic has proved as solid as in his early days with Red Star Belgrade and then Spartak, a fierce competitor (sometimes a little too fierce in training), who has brought out the best in Ferdinand and become a real threat with his heading at set-pieces.

He dedicates every goal he scores to Vladimir Dimitrijevic, a friend and colleague at Red Star who died of a heart attack on the training ground aged 20: "I grew up with him, played in the same teams and shared the same room with him when we went to Belgrade, 15 years old. After you realise he's no longer in this world, it's difficult..."

Wednesday's third goal of the season - Wigan and Portsmouth were the other victims - eased United's nerves at a critical juncture just before the interval, and enabled Vidic to speak from a position of strength about their prospects when the Champions' League resumes in two months' time: "We don't need to fear anybody, we're a good team with lots of experience. If we play like in the second half [against Benfica] there's no team in the world we need to fear."

Indeed, it is fair to say that possible opponents in Friday's draw such as Real Madrid, Porto, PSV, Internazionale and even Barcelona would prefer to avoid United. At full strength, they are a vibrant side in the club's best traditions. The main threat to serious hopes of becoming champions of either England or Europe again would appear to be losing senior players as the pace hots up in those two competitions in the new year.

But the same might be said of the other contenders who have given Britain a best-ever representation in the competition's second phase. Arsène Wenger has insisted Arsenal will not buy in January, Liverpool looked poor when sending a few second-strings into action against Galatasaray and even Chelsea would be vulnerable without, say, John Terry or Didier Drogba.

The bookmakers are offering only 11-8 against an English club succeeding Barcelona as champions, yet go odds-on Manchester United to win nothing this season. It seemed diplomatic not to broach that with Mr Vidic.

redrus

Edited December 10, 2006 by redrus

[muckypups]

I'm sorry muckypups but that must be the most bias write up of a match ever. What a load of tosh

Then Graham Poll

And that to55er is a Red

All in all though, you did deserve to win. Our defensive blunders cocked us up.

Actually Mr. B I agree.. that's why I was so pleasantly surprised to spot such a biased article

Had you anyone capable of finishing..and the defence not let you down the result may well have been different..however..

[redrus]

Back to the day to balls coming from the usual source....!

EVERYONE LOVES THE GLAZERS

By redissue

Monday 11th December 2006

Capable Hands actually thinks people don't mind them.

United chief executive David Gill on trying to catch up with Chelsea: “We’ve got a fantastic stadium selling out every week, which is brilliant, 75,000-plus.

“We’ll do what we can do and let actions speak louder than words.”

Gill continued: “Peter’s (Kenyon) entitled to his view. But we know what we’re doing. We’re trying to continually grow — on the pitch in particular.

“Off the field will follow. We know the history and heritage of this club. We’ll plough our own furrow.”

He then went on to say the Glazers being in charge isn't a problem for fans.

He said: “There will clearly be some fans who were opposed, who are still opposed, but we always felt that was a relatively small minority — albeit a vocal minority and they’re entitled to their view.

“I think the majority of fans want to watch a winning team playing exciting football in a great ground.

“We’ve got that here and we’re doing that at the moment.

“The ownership is not necessarily a major issue for them.”

redrus

[muckypups]

“The ownership is not necessarily a major issue for them.”

Yeh..right..

[redrus]

“The ownership is not necessarily a major issue for them.”

Yeh..right..

Some people really have no idea do they fella, especially ol safe hands. Some people actually do believe that our fans fly in from the far east every week and, that there really are no people from surrounding areas appalled by the <deleted> this guy spouts, being spoon fed from the poison dwarf is doing <deleted> all to help.....!

redrus

[nev]

<deleted> has the glasiers done for us they are just like a blood sucking leach.

its not being american that pisses me off its the fact they are jewish buisnessmen, where money is number one, bit like thai girls hey but my girl love me because i love her more than she loves me ban me please sorry guys for going off topic

[redrus]

No worries Nev, everyone has a moment, especially in the football forum....!

NOTHING BUT THE BEST?

Daily Star.

Tuesday 12th December 2006

Ferguson: "At the end of the day you have to win at our club, that’s the nuts and bolts. If you are not winning you get a lot of criticism, deserved or not."

But will he strengthen the squad?

"I feel far better today waking up looking at my team than two or three years ago when we were not winning anything.

"At the end of the day you have to win at our club, that’s the nuts and bolts. If you are not winning you get a lot of criticism, deserved or not.

"Nobody likes it but an element of that drives you on and increases your determination not to get criticised again.

"The only way to keep your head above water is by winning and the present-day team is showing signs of being a really good side.

"But you’ve got to win the league, the European Cup and the FA Cup. You’ve got to win those things, because only then can you be judged as a really great team.

"There is no point in being a good second. That doesn’t come into it."

redrus

[redrus]

'WORLD CLASS'

redrissue

Tuesday 12th December 2006

Ferguson lauds the two Rs.

"It doesn’t matter which players you sign, there’s always an element of risk.

"If you sign Ronaldo and Rooney you are talking about the future with years ahead of them.

"Sometimes you have to take the hit and be patient in terms of young players.

"Sometimes it doesn’t come off, sometimes you have to wait because younger players don’t bring consistency, they bring you hope.

"They bring you a dream and you hope that once they reach their potential and mature you will see the hopes and dreams realised. That’s what the waiting is for.

"I’m confident they are both showing more maturity and getting more consistency. Hopefully that will take us all the way, they are both capable of being world-class players."

redrus

[redrus]

From Football Issue

Tuesday 12th December 2006

Mavuba is Ferguson target

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has Bordeaux midfielder Rio Mavuba on his shopping list.

The Daily Star says Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves remains Fergie's No1 midfield target for the winter market, however if the Germans refuse to sell, he intends to turn to Mavuba.

The young France international has declared in recent days he's ready to leave Bordeaux and admitted: "The press talks about it, the websites also, but I am not in direct contact with Manchester United.

"People have said my agent has met with Sir Alex Ferguson's brother, but that is false.

"I don't know what my future will be, but I have never hidden my ambition to play for such a big club."

redrus

[redrus]

Manchester United finally overbalance Chelsea's summer cash.

From Square Football.net

It has taken quite a while for the bookies to catch on to the idea that Chelsea might not stroll to another title - but the draw against Arsenal was the final straw on this very wealthy camel's back. The reality is of course that the bookies look to balance their liabilities and so much money was wagered on Chelsea in the summer of 2006 that it was always going to take something extraordinary to get the bookies to offer even as much as Even money.

But the weight of cash on Manchester United in recent weeks has finally pushed United into favouritism. A Chelsea win in mid-week may well tempt the bookies to make them odds on as a result - so this may be the last time that Chelsea appear at these odds. I would expect that a thumping Chelsea win will change the odds to make United and Chelsea joint 5/6 or 10/11 favourites. And unless one or the other tail off these odds will persist until the end of the season.

Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchison said:

"We toyed with the idea of making United the new favourites and were persuaded by a number of wagers on them.

"It will be interesting to see if the prices hold should Chelsea win their game in hand in mid-week and close the gap to five points."

LATEST BETTING; Premiership 2006/07

Manchester United 8/11

Chelsea Evs

Liverpool 40/1

Arsenal 50/1

350/1 bar

Antony Melvin

11 December 2006

redrus

[redrus]

GIGGS ENJOYED THE DERBY WIN

Wednesday 13th December 2006

And has United appearances record in his sights.

Ryan Giggs heralds United’s recent good form:

“We've been playing some good football but have also grinded out some important results. We've got the balance just about right now, we just need to carry that form forward.

“We're on a good run and every player throughout the squad is playing with great confidence; we're all buzzing at the moment.

“Being a local lad it's always nice to beat City. But more importantly we've kept our run going. The aim at the start of the week was to make sure we extended the gap to nine points and it's great to have done that.

“We should have put the game to bed before City scored and we had plenty of chances to do that. They caused us a lot of problems at the back because they're such a big and physical side and it got a bit nervewracking when they got one back. So we were really pleased to see that third goal go in.”

Meanwhile Giggs’ next game will see him overtake Bill Foulkes into second place in the appearance stakes on 689, with only Charlton's record of 759 ahead of him:

“I don't like to look too far into the future because it will tire me out if I think forty or fifty games ahead of myself! I always try and do my best each week so we'll see what happens.”

Sir Bobby Charlton on Giggs possibly breaking his record:

“I do not feel threatened by Ryan. I would be pleased if he did it and I am sure he will. We are only talking about two seasons, so he should do it.

“The better the team plays, the more chances he will have and, when he does, I will be the first person to give him a hug."

“He seems to have conquered injury problems. He used to get a lot of hamstrings but we seem to have found a way of treating him and I am very pleased about that.

“Ryan is a great lesson to any young player. Obviously we played in different eras and we didn't have any substitutes back then, so we didn't get any rest.

“But nevertheless, you cannot say Ryan is anything other than a marvellous footballer and I am proud he has been associated with Manchester United for so long.”

redrus

[redrus]

Jeez, this guts a right whore....!

Bayern star still fancies OT move.

From The Times:

“I don’t think people in England realise what a huge club Bayern Munich is. I’ve never once said a bad word about Bayern and I never would. It’s not about that. It’s about the opportunity to possibly play in another league I haven’t played in before, which is also the country I represent and where my family lives.

“If people don’t understand that, I don’t expect them to. It’s not their life. It’s mine. But I don’t think anyone in the football world is in the same situation as mine.

“Nobody at any club is going to wait for anyone for ever. I don’t want to go into too great depth about it because it’s not down to me. I received a lot of criticism for suggesting it would have been a great opportunity, but sometimes you need to say it. I don’t feel bad about anything I said or did.

“Anybody who sees them play at the moment knows it’s a very special team and they’re in a great time. If you look a year or two ago, they weren’t where they are now. They’ve dominated this season in the Premier League, which is very difficult. Any player who looks at that football, no matter where you’re from, says that’s spectacular.

“Look at the goal difference, plus 29. There’s no one within a country mile of that. They’re not just winning games, they’re winning them dramatically. But it’s not like I’m saying I want to go to AC Milan or Inter Milan because they’re offering me more money.”

redrus

[redrus]

From the Sun:

Wayne Rooney reckons January 21 is crunch time in the battle for the Premiership crown.

That is when Manchester United travel to Arsenal — the day after title rivals Chelsea visit Liverpool.

“Our game is a big one. I never want Liverpool to win but if it’s going to help us to win the league then I won’t mind — for once.

“If they can do us a favour and beat Chelsea then that would be good. We’ll then be looking to get a first win at Arsenal’s new ground.

“We know it’s a long campaign and the challenge will be difficult. However, we’re confident and hopefully this season is the one to bring back the title.

“I think there are a lot more goals in me. If I can score, get a few more assists and keep producing big performances then, hopefully, that will help us win the Premiership.”

Meanwhile, whilst on a trip to New York this week, Rooney almost got injured while watching a basketball match:

He and fiancee Coleen McLoughlin took advantage of a three-day break to travel to New York to watch the Knicks lose at home to Boston Celtics.

They had courtside seats at Madison Square Garden. And in the early stages of the game Knicks star Paul Pierce — who is 6ft 8in and 17st — reached for a loose ball, fell on to the striker and landed on Rooney’s right foot.

It is the same foot he broke ahead of the World Cup but, thankfully, this time no damage was done. Rooney said: “It was very scary. He rolled right over my foot.”

Elsewhere he asks refs for more protection:

“For some reason, referees think I should be able to protect myself without their help. I've had some bad tackles on me, but I'll get up where other players will roll around, so the refs think there is nothing wrong with me.

“I just want to play football and sometimes I get angry at this and sometimes I don't - I just try to hold myself back and think for a minute, then react after that. But I think I'm getting better and I'm learning how to take a deep breath. I try not to get involved because I know that if I do get frustrated, it can affect my performance.

“He's [Ferguson] instilled a winning mentality in me. He's made me aware how much this club wants to win. I always wanted to win anyway, but he's probably taken it that step further.

“And I want to win the lot - every tournament, every cup, every game. Every game I go into, I think I'm going to win and score.

“Ask anyone. Everything I play, whether it's the computer, snooker, whatever. I'm always 100 per cent confident that I'll win it, even if I've never played it before.

“People might say that sounds big-headed and you don't always win of course, but I think I'm positive and I take that into everything I do.

“If you've got something, there's no point wasting it and throwing it away. You should try and build on it and be better. I can do that here.”

redrus

[redrus]

Rossi gunning for Chelsea, whilst Arsenal have praise for United.

From the Guardian:

A Manchester United player could have a significant bearing on tonight's match at Stamford Bridge. The striker Giuseppe Rossi is on loan at Newcastle United, and Glenn Roeder said, “Rossi has a great chance of playing and nothing would give him greater pleasure than giving his real boss some help against Chelsea.”

From the Mirror:

Alexander Hleb says Manchester United deserve to be streets ahead of Arsenal in the league - because their finishing is so much more clinical.

“I have watched United a couple of times. If they have chances, they use them. Their execution is on the highest level.

“Even if we just converted one out of five chances, we would be right up there with them, even if we weren't quite on the same level. And we would have had fewer problems in the Champions League too.

“Of course we're the ones to blame for missing from unthinkable positions, though bad luck does play its part too.”

Well haway the lads. Aw dawnt think it'll mek much difffference leeke but, III'm a Geeeordie the neet lads....!

redrus

[redrus]

Ronnie explains a few things in the MEN:

“I remember in the first year I was with United, I was criticised quite a lot for going to the floor too easily.

“That was an area of my game where I had to change quite fast. It was perhaps the biggest lesson I've learned in England. (he has got loads better) (Southgate, shut it.... )

“It is a different type of game in Portugal. If you watch Portuguese matches on telly you'll see that straight away. But the rules should be the same everywhere.

“If it's a free-kick the referee should give a free-kick. But here, referees chose to ignore fouls a lot of the time.

“I think the referees here favour the defenders quite a bit because they get to tackle a lot without getting a yellow card. It's difficult for a defender in England to get sent off by collecting two yellow cards. It's very rare it happens.

“I think the referees should protect the attackers more not only me, not only wingers, but strikers as well. I think if it's a dirty tackle or a harsh tackle, the ref should give a yellow card right away without warning. But they don't. Defenders are often told: `Next time it's a booking'.”

redrus

[kayo]

Drus, you got your own private last word thread here or what??!

[Soph]

Drus, you got your own private last word thread here or what??!

[redrus]

Drus, you got your own private last word thread here or what??!

The funny thing is, I've done all the views too.................

Soph, you really do stalk him....

redrus

[kayo]

nah mate, she was on here before me.. In fact, she is the reason I visited your parts of the board, Look at the Why thread.

[muckypups]

Champs. League draw tonight..the options listed below courtesy of the Beeb..:

Teams await Champions League fate

Britain's five teams in the Champions League will find out their opponents for the knockout stages of the competition in Friday's draw.

England's four representatives - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United - all finished top of their groups and are in the first pot.

Celtic are in the second pot and could draw Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool.

The Scottish league leaders are in a pot along with holders Barcelona for the draw that will be made at 1100 GMT.

Teams cannot draw rivals from their group so Arsenal will not be paired with Porto, Chelsea will avoid Barcelona, Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven will be kept apart and Manchester United and Celtic cannot meet again.

And clubs from the same country cannot be drawn against each other in the second round.

Matches in the last 16 will be played on 20/21 February and 6/7 March and the first-legs will be played at the home of the group runners-up.

TEAMS IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW

Group winners (Pot 1): AC Milan, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Lyon, Manchester United & Valencia.

Group runners-up (Pot 2): Barcelona, Celtic, Inter Milan, Lille, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid & Roma.

Arsenal can meet: Barcelona, Celtic, Inter Milan, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid or Roma.

Celtic can meet: AC Milan, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Lyon or Valencia.

Chelsea can meet: Celtic, Inter Milan, Lille, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid or Roma.

Liverpool can meet: Barcelona, Celtic, Inter Milan, Lille, Porto, Real Madrid or Roma.

Manchester United can meet: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Lille, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid or Roma.

Now, football being the way it is.. what's the betting? Manchester United v Real Madrid, and the return of Ruud..?

(I must say I'd prefer Lille though..)

Anyway, just happy to be in it this season...

[muckypups]

Well, well.. think I'll do the lottery this weekend

There are no easy games etc, etc.. but we should be too strong for Lille..

This article from "The Times':

Ferguson plays joker at expense of Chelsea

Oliver Kay

Sir Alex Ferguson warned José Mourinho yesterday that he may be mistaken in claiming that Chelsea are about to surge into top form, but the Manchester United manager could afford to be smug after an early Christmas present arrived in the form of a most charitable Champions League draw.

United will meet Lille in the last 16 in the spring, with Chelsea playing FC Porto, with whom Mourinho won the competition two years ago. Liverpool and Celtic face the sternest tests of the British teams after being paired with Barcelona and AC Milan respectively, while Arsenal will play PSV Eindhoven.

It was a draw that heightened United’s confidence of success on two fronts, with Ferguson far from perturbed by Mourinho’s defiant claim that Chelsea, who trail his team by five points in the Barclays Premiership, have “another level” to reach.

“There could be another level to Chelsea — they could get worse,” Ferguson said with a grin at United’s training ground yesterday. “Don’t forget that Chelsea’s level this season is already better than it was in the previous two years.”

This last claim is dubious, given that Chelsea had a further seven points at the same stage in the Premiership last term, but with Mourinho’s team facing an awkward trip to Everton tomorrow before Ferguson’s leaders take on struggling West Ham United in Alan Curbishley’s first match in charge at Upton Park, the Manchester United manager is in buoyant mood as he reflects on a comfortable lead at the top.

“I would rather pay attention to my own team and I wouldn’t mind if we were two points behind Chelsea because we are going in the right direction and we have an outstanding chance this year,” Ferguson said. “We can get better. The area where we do have to improve away from home is the number of chances missed.

“Against Reading we drew 1-1 and could have scored six. Looking at our performances at Sheffield United and Middlesbrough, we should have won those games by more. We have to realise that we are making away games harder for ourselves if we don’t take chances.”

With Henrik Larsson due to join up with his prospective team-mates in London tomorrow before officially completing his loan from Helsingborg on January 2, Ferguson is confident that United are moving in the right direction, with yesterday’s European draw increasing his confidence of progress in the Champions League, even though Lille helped to eliminate them from last season’s competition at the group stage.

“We had a bad experience last year, but this is a different United team,” Ferguson said. “It’s an emerging team, which is getting better all the time, and we’re really looking forward to the tie.

“To get to this stage is fantastic. We’ve improved as a team so much since last year and I’m sure they will be two great ties. We know it will be difficult, but that’s what the Champions League at this stage is all about.

“It is three or four years since we got beyond the last 16. If we can get through, that is the direction the club should be taking. This is a club that has had some terrific journeys in the competition to finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals.

“But this team is young enough to be in contention for a number of years. The most important thing is that we are there and good enough to win.”

Edwin van der Sar, the United goalkeeper, has agreed a one-year extension to his contract, which expires in June.

Strengths and weaknesses

The five British clubs face ties that differ considerably in the level of difficulty in the first knockout round of the Champions League. Bill Edgar rates the strength of each opponent on a scale of one to ten — the strongest team being ten — and provides a telling detail about the tie.

Chelsea v FC Porto (6): Porto have ten Brazilians in their squad

Manchester United v Lille (2): United have faced Benfica and Lille in successive seasons

Liverpool v Barcelona (9): The Catalan club reached the Champions League knockout stages only once in six seasons from 1996 to 2001

Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven (3): The fastest goal in a Champions League match was scored by Gilberto Silva, away to PSV in 2002

Celtic v AC Milan (7): The Italian team have won only two of their past 12 Serie A matches