United only have 24 senior players who need to be registered

A few days ago, Fergie admitted he was unsure of whether he should include Owen Hargreaves in his 25-man squad for the first half of this season.

“I only have one issue really – whether I can afford to allot one of the 25 places to Owen Hargreaves as he continues to battle for full fitness,” Ferguson told United Review

The comments made by SAF were then picked up by several news sites and then debated by several Man Utd blogs and forum, but the story is actually not an issue at all.

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A roundup of games from the weekend of August 28th

Blackburn Rovers 1 – 2 Arsenal
Mame Biram Diouf received his first start in the premier league for Blackburn and continued his good form in front of goal by scoring against Arsenal at Ewood Park. Diouf, who played 80 minutes of the game, was the beneficiary of some good work down the left flank from namesake El-Hadji Diouf, who worked hard to get past the unconvincing Koscielny and square the ball back for Mame to turn into the net. The goal levelled the match at 1-1, but it wasn’t enough as Arsenal grabbed victory through an Andrei Arshavin strike.

A video clip of Diouf’s goal

Sheffield United 1 – 0  Preston North End
Both Joshua King and Matty James played the full 90 minutes for Preston in 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Colchester United 1 – 1 Carlisle United
James Chester received his fifth start for Carlisle in a 1-1 draw with Colchester and played the full 90 minutes.

Oldham Athletic 0 – 0  Yeovil Town
Cameron Stewart came on as a 68th minute substitute for Andrew Walsh as Yeovil Town played out a 0-0 draw with Oldham.

Portsmouth 0 – 2  Cardiff City
Danny Drinkwater received his 6th start for Cardiff and played the full 90 minutes as the Bluebirds ran out 0-2 winners against Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Sunderland 1 – 0 Man City
Danny Welbeck came on at the start of the second half for former United player Frazier Campbell and had a real impact as Sunderland beat The World’s Richest Club 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. In the 93rd minute, Micah Richards fouled Darren Bent in the box as he launched himself to get on to the end of a teasing Ahmed Al Muhammadi cross, which resulted in a penalty. Darren Bent struck the ball poorly, but still managed to squeeze the ball underneath Joe Hart to hand Steve Bruce’s side victory over the mercenaries.

Updated Stats:

Dad, it’s for you / For you, Father

Dimitar Berbatov produced one of his best displays in an United shirt, which he capped off with a marvelous goal to the delight of team mates and fans alike. He then celebrated by taking off his jersey to reveal a red shirt underneath, but neither the cameras nor his team mate Patrice Evra could make out what was written on it.

Apparently, the words on his shirt mean “For you, Father” or “Dad, it’s for you” in Bulgarian.

Nice one, Berba! And may you continue putting in performance like you did today.

Thanks to thisgirlrox for sharing this on twitter!

A video clip of Berba’s goal:

Starts for Diouf, King, James, Drinkwater & Welbeck

Blackburn Rovers 3 – 1 Norwich City
Mame Biram Diouf received his first start for Blackburn Rovers and immediately repaid Sam Allerdyce’s decision by putting three “poacher’s” goals past Norwich City. Allerdyce was obviously pleased with Diouf’s peformance and praised the Senegalese International in his post-match interview:

‘Hopefully he can start scoring like that in the Premier League now.

‘He looks like a natural goalscorer because he drifts into areas that put him into the right position to score. ‘You can’t coach that instinct into someone. It is something he has developed naturally. Now he’s got the match ball and a big smile on his face.’

Video clip of Diouf’s goals:


Bradford City 1 – 2 Preston North End
Both Matty James, as well as Joshua King continued to do well for Preston and played 120 minutes for Darren Ferguson’s team in a 1-2 victory over Bradford.The game was tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes, but Preston took the lead on 108 minuted through Keith Treacy in extra time and managed to see out the rest of the game.

Peterborough United 2 – 1 Cardiff City
Danny Drinkwater started his 5th game for Cardiff, but was unable to prevent Dave Jones’ side from slipping to a 2-1 victory at Peterborough.

Sunderland 2 – 0 Colchester
Danny Welbeck started his first match for Steve Bruce in a 2-0 victory over Colchester at the Stadium of Light. Darren Bent scored a brace with Boudewijn Zenden the provider on both occasions. Martyn Waghorn replaced Welbeck on 63 minutes.

Full stats on our players on on loan here.

United’s second string beat the Bitters’ “Elite”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer oversaw a 3-1 thumping of Manchester City’s second string in a Manchester Senior Cup tie with Blues’ boss Robert Mancini in the stands. The Bitters had previously renamed their reserves team “The Elite Squad”, which was a total marketing cock-up, as elite quite litereally means the best. How can you name your reserves team the best? Well, only if you’ve got a chip on your shoulder. Having realized the error of their ways, City have now renamed their reserves team “The Elite Development Squad”.

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He scores goals galore – 150 of them and counting!

Paul Scholes completed the admirable milestone of scoring his 150th competitive goal for Manchester United yesterday in the 2-2 draw with Fulham However, the unassuming midfield legend will probably not have been impressed with the fact that United failed to secure all 3 points after leading 1-2 at Craven Cottage.

While the Salford born player will care little about records and stats, his achievements and milestones bring a smile to United supporters and his latest strike will be considered a memorable one.

The ginger prince is now in tied with Ruud van Nistelrooy in 9th position in United’s all-time scoring charts and will be gunning for Ryan Giggs who is in 8th place on 156 goals and with some luck might even surpass current Fulham manager, Mark Hughes, who is in 7th plpace on 163 goals.

A bit further down the list lies a certain Wayne Rooney, who is already in 13th position at the tender age of 24. I wouldn’t bet against him doubling his current tally in the next few years and hope to see him at the top of that table in future. C’mon Wazza!

All-time Manchester United goal scorers curtesy of stretfordend.co.uk:

Sir Alex Ferguson had high praise for Scholesy’s milestone strike:

“It’s never easy to score from 20 yards,” said Sir Alex after the Fulham match.

“But Paul has done it in the past, he’s got a tremendous record at that over the years and he’s done it once again. And once again, I think he was one of the best players on the pitch. It was another outstanding performance.”

A video of the beautiful strike:

Joshua King and Matty James continue to impress at Preston

Summary of this weekend’s matches by manutd.com:

Preston North End 1 – 0 Portsmouth
Joshua King was named man of the match in his first start for Preston against Portsmouth, while Matty James completed another impressive 90 minutes in midfield. Darren Ferguson’s side, for whom Matty James turned in another impressive 90 minutes in midfield, bagged a first league win of the season through Paul Hayes’ strike. Both King and James came close to adding to the scoreline, but the United duo were repeatedly thwarted by Pompey goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown.

Cardiff City 4 – 0 Doncasters Rovers
Danny Drinkwater completed another impressive, tough-tackling 90 minutes for Cardiff City, but it was another Manchester loanee – City’s Craig Bellamy – who stole the show for the Bluebirds, scoring one goal and making another for Dave Jones’ side in a convincing 4-0 win over Doncaster.

Carlisle United 4 – 1 Milton Keynes Dons
James Chester’s Carlisle United sit top of League One with seven points from three games, after a 4-1 thrashing of MK Dons. The on-loan United youngster again looked imperious in the centre of the Carlisle defence, applying his usual no-nonsense approach and restricting the visitors to few chances.

West Bromwich Albion 1 – 0 Sunderland
Danny Welbeck was offered a second-half cameo for Sunderland, and his introduction coincided with the Black Cats’ best football at the Hawthorns. Another late concession proved costly, however, as Baggies new boy Peter Odemwingie struck to pinch the points for the hosts.

Birmingham City 2 – 1 Blackburn Rovers
Mame Biram Diouf entered the fray as a late substitute for Blackburn at Birmingham. The Senegalese striker was given little time to shine as Rovers, who had led, chased a route back into the game after Craig Gardner’s double for Brum.

Cameron Stewart missed Yeovil Town’s 0-2 home defeat to Hartlepool United with a thigh injury.

Chicharito might start at Craven Cottage

Wayne Rooney reported sick at United’s training ground yesterday and did not travel with the team to London. The club’s medical staff ordered Rooney home, fearing he could pass on the infection to the staff and players.

It is unlikely that Rooney will have recovered sufficiently to join his team-mates today, which could mean a first start for new signing Javier Hernández, who was outstanding in pre-season and replaced Rooney after 63 minutes of United’s opening 3-0 win against Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

The possible pairing of Berbatov and Chicharito will please a number of United fans who are of the opinion that the Bulgarian International has already struck up a better understanding with the Hernandez in a few pre-season games than with Rooney in two full seasons.

While I do agree that Berbatov and Chicharito seem to click, I think it more likely that Fulham away always represents a tricky tie and that Fergie might opt to revert to a 4-5-1 formation and avoid starting Hernandez in an away match so early in his United career.

Evra picked up a knock against Newcastle but Fergie disclosed he should be fine for today’s match. With Hughes likely to flood the midfield it’s conceivable Fergie will return the favour in kind and play Berbatov alone up front with Carrick coming into midfield. Fergie could then take off Carrick who hasn’t had much game time around the 65minute mark and bring on Hernandez, whose speed could prove too much for tired Fulham legs.

The argument in favor of Fergie continuing with a 4-4-2 is that Berba has been in great form, but that he showed last season that he doesn’t play the lone striker role effectively, so SAF might choose to stick to a formation that has worked and continue playing Scholes, as well as Berba who are in great form at the moment. I personally would love for Fergie to start with Berbatov and Hernandez up front and take the game to Fulham.

Possible starting line-ups:

Meanwhile, Fulham boss Mark Hughes will be looking to field a Fulham team that will be very difficult to beat today. The former United player told a press conference: “If it was the first time that I was going up against Manchester United and Sir Alex then it would be more of an issue, but I’ve done it many times now so from my point of view it’s more about going up against the best in the business and testing your team and your abilities against the guy that’s been at the top of the tree for over two decades, and that’s a challenge which is never any easier.”

“Invariably he seems to pick his strongest team against me, but I take that as a sign of the respect he has for the teams I’m involved with, because he knows I set up my teams to give his a hard time,” added Hughes.

However, Mark Hughes should take note that Sir Alex is pure gold against his former players, having never lost a single match.

“He likes to make sure we know our place, and rightly so! He’s always competitive, and, obviously, going up against guys he’s previously worked with, he’s always supportive of us, but he always likes to beat you. That doesn’t change,” added the new Fulham boss.

A left-footed, left-sided winger? Yes please!

Several weeks ago, rumours surfaced on internet boards that Manchester United were on the verge of signing Dutch winger Gyliano van Velzen. No official announcement was made, but reports in the Netherlands today revealed that the transfer has been completed.

The player then basically shared on twitter that he was with United and  Manchester United have now confirmed that they have signed the player, although an announcement has yet to be made.

Van Velzen looks a giant at the tender age of 16 and is a left-footed, left-sided winger, which is a rare commodity these days. He is a product of the legendary Ajax academy and only turned 16 on the 14th of March.

I wish the lad well and hope to see him do well in the academy.

Surname: van Velzen
First name: Gyliano
Date of birth: 14.04.1994
Age-group: 1994
Nationality: Netherlands
Position: Forward / Winger

Obligatory clip of the player:

The Serbian Rock puts pen to paper.

Nemanja Vidic has finally put pen to paper on a new 4 year contract four weeks after David Gill announced that a verbal agreement had been reached with the commanding centre half. The Serbian International had been linked with a move away from Old Trafford for most of last season and the rumours did appear to unsettle the defender somewhat.

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