Nani's wonder goal vs Chelsea in his 100th PL appearance

Talk of confidence and player growth, and only 1 name will come in your mind - Manchester United's no. 17 Luis Nani.

--> Nani's 2nd goal against Chelsea, 8 minutes from 1st half killed the opponent before they could recover from Chris Smalling's 8th minute opener.

This game marked Nani's 100th MUFC PL appearance, taking his goal tally to 19 and a total of 33 assists. Interestingly, Sky Sports compared Nani to his Portugal counterpart and Manchester United's previous no. 7 - Cristiano Ronaldo, or as fans called him CR7. And it turns out Nani's first 100 Premier League performances gained him better results compared to Ronaldo's performance during that period. As Skysports pundit, Gary Neville said "Ronaldo took his time to settle at United".

Ronaldo who?

Nani, on the other hand was given scarce chances since his arrival from Sporting CP in 2007 and it was only since the start of 2010-11 season, that he started to appear on MUFC team sheet frequently. Obviously, the last season was the most fruitful for the Portugese as he got capped 33 times out of a maximum 38 and scored 9 times with 20+ assists.

Well done Luis Nani, we at TRDS would like to congratulate on your 100th PL league appearance, may there be 900 more and may you become a no.7 soon, even better than CR7.

Finally check out the refreshing goal Nani scored against Chelsea at the weekend, celebrating his 100th PL game in SOME style!

We'll leave you with the goal below but the bottom line is that Nani owned Chelsea's defence! and oh boy what a cross from Jonny Evans! Doesn't it remind you of Scholesy for a moment?

UPDATE: OK THE VIDEO MAY HAVE BEEN TAKEN OFF, BUT KINDLY ENJOY A COMPILATION FROM' Bachka Ch'

All 7 Chicharito Goals in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup

So how did Javier Hernandez do in the Gold Cup? I think 7 goals to his name (including the only hat-trick of his career so far) and 2 awards, one of them the prestigious Golden Boot and the other MVP - Most Valuable Player of the year award, sums it all up!

Below is a video in which I have composed a video featuring all of Chicharito's 7 goals that he scored in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. So do view it in HD and share with your friends/relatives.


The best goal of the lot has to be the one against Guatemala where Chicharito scores a marvellous backheel goal; totally disgusting the goalkeeper. In the tournament, Chicharito produced about 30% of the goals for Mexico and a couple of assists. There is no reason why he didn't deserve the Most Valuable Player of the Year award.

Hernandez lifted his nation on his shoulders and soldiered through till the final and made sure Mexico won their 6th Gold Cup in the 11 tournaments held so far. From the goals we see above, some people dub him as the next Messi. For me, he's just been a better Chicharito we saw in the 2010-11 campaign and if given another season, the Mexican will prove to be better than Messi. It's funny how many goals the ex Guadalajara man scored from close range at his first season at United. It was a similar story in the Gold Cup in which 5 or 6 goals were scored from very close to the goalkeeper.

Hernandez also scored the first hat-trick of his career against El Salvador in a 5-0 win. There couldn't have been a better way to start the tournament for the Mexican, than with a hat-trick. His hat-trick goal was phenomenal. It was from a penalty spot and Chicharito very masterfully handled the goalkeeper's efforts to distract him by moving along the goal line. In response, Chicharito took the penalty kick very cool-ly and chipped it into the net.

The goal against Honduras in the extra time is the biggest reason to believe how deadly a striker is Javier Hernandez. He sees the ball so well, that how he makes a contact with the ball is only a matter of choice. Some people call that goal a controversial one, and its still not very clear if the ball came of Chicharito's arm/hand or his hip. But I can conclude without a doubt, that it was definitely not a fluke, but a natural instinct to score a goal. Just goes to show that Javier Hernandez is one of the best clinical finishers around.

Hope Hernandez brings more goals for Manchester United in the coming 2011-12 season, but as it stands, Chicharito is exempted to take part in the Pre-season tour. So apparently, he will not be playing in the 5 games in the USA. However, I feel Fergie may play him in the last game against Barcelona which is on 30th July.

GGMU and Congratulations to Chicharito, our Little Pea and the Mexican football team!

Chicharito sends Mexico into Gold Cup semi-final by scoring a cheeky back-heel winner (VIDEOS)

Chicharito scored the cheeky winning goal against  Guatemala putting Mexico in the Gold Cup Semi-final

Chicharito continues to shine for Mexico in the Gold Cup tournament. Javier Hernandez is so far the leading scorer in the tournament with 6 goals having already scored a brilliant hat-trick. 
After conceding an early goal, Mexico bounced back from 1-0 at HT to 2-1 victory at full time. 
Interestingly,  Mexico was behind for the first time since the start of the tournament after that early goal by Guatemala striker Carlos Ruiz. Their lead held until Mexico's halftime sub Aldo De Negris equalized in the 48th minute. 



In the 65th minute, our Little pea "Chicharito" scored the winner with an elegant yet cheeky backheel goal. It seemed like he's born for producing magical goals like these and made it look like a child's play. Check out the video above in HD!

That put Mexico in the semifinals and marked just another day in the increasingly successful life of Javier Hernandez. 

However, for Manchester United fans, this goal won't be a big excitement as the Mexican has already scored a similar backheel set up by Nani against Stoke City in the Premier League. The game was against Stoke City at Old Trafford earlier this year (4 Jan, 2011) after scoring which, Hernandez became the leading Mexican goal scorer in the English Premier League; an amazing achievement unlocked in his FIRST premier league season at Manchester United!
                     
Let's wish Mexico and our Little Pea "Javier Hernandez" aka Chicharito all the best for the remaining 2 games of the Gold Cup and hope Chicharito wins the cup for Mexico!
 

Fergie's BEBE sent on a season long loan to Besiktas

B3B3 is off to Turkey for a year

Sky Sports  yesterday confirmed that Man United attacker Bebe (whose full name is Tiago Manuel Dias Correia) has been loaned out to the Turkish team Besiktas for the whole 2011-12 season. In fact his Wikipedia article suggests that he is already a member of the Besitas squad. Bebe, who was bought from VItoria de Guimaraes at a record transfer fee of £7.4 million on a 5 year contract, has failed to live up to hopes and expectations of every United fan. Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that he had signed the deal without having seen him play himself. 

Besiktas, who finished 6th in the Turkish  League the last season, are a decent team and Bebe must be lucky to land there after Manchester. Besiktas fans are world renowned to be loud and crazy for their team. They go to the stadium and literally scream for their team. Undoubtedly make one of the best football crowds in the World. United have faced Besiktas in the 2009-10 Champions League season and defeated us 1-0 at Old Trafford after we won 1-0 at their stadium in the first leg. 

The question is how did Besiktas track Bebe? Some people jokingly say it was the Turkish Airlines advert in which Bebe makes a Cameo appearance with the rest of the MUFC squad who are on the plane. But the genuine reason is that Portugese scored his only UEFA Champions League goal in a  3-0 victory at Bursaspor in Turkey (November, 2010). Perhaps the Besiktas scouting team then got interested in Bebe and finally secured him on a 1 year loan.

Mind you, Bebe's little trick and the elegant pass to Rafael (or was it Fabio?) is pretty impressive!
Have a look at the Turkish Airlines advert below: 

This loan news will be perceived in a good as well a bad way by most of the United fans across the globe.

The Good: Hopefully he'll get more games at Besiktas, something he didn't achieve at Manchester United (only 7 caps in the Premier League + FA cup + Carling Cup in which he managed to score once). He's going to Besiktas, where the fans are too loud and give a huge support to their team; perhaps this will raise Bebe's confidence levels? 

The Bad: It is a strong possibility that the Portugese attacker may stay at Besiktas as he clearly struggled during his time in England. In my opinion he would be very stupid to chose Besiktas ahead of United. If the loan transforms into a permanent deal, it would lead to a massive loss. However, he needs to work very hard in Turkey and prove Sir Alex Ferguson's trust.

On a positive note, I think Bebe has a lot to prove during his loan at Besiktas. He didn't have a good start to his new life in Manchester; not even a decent one. However, he did show that he has "some" skills of a good winger by being pacy in the few appearances he was given by SAF. However, his shooting and crossing skills were disastrous and I'm sure it must have raised every one's eye brows. 

I predict Bebe's gonna be the next big thing that United has produced. All he needs to do now is to capitalise the opportunity at Besiktas and make everyone associated with Manchester United proud! Hope to see him winning trophies when he's back at Old Trafford in the 2012-13 season!

Bebe with the Premier League trophy in his first season at MAN UNITED, hope there are more to come!

GGMU

Welcome to Manchester United, Phil Jones!

Full name	Philip Anthony Jones
Date of birth	21 February 1992 (age 19)
Place of birth	Preston, England
Transfer Fee Height	£16.5 - £17 million 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Defender

www.manutd.com today finally confirmed that Manchester United has been successful in signing Phil Jones, the 19 year old extremely talented central defender on a 5 year contract from Blackborn Rovers (an Indian owned Lancashire based Premier League Club). The Transfer fee is speculated to be around £16.5-£17million bracket but according to a very close source, its likely to be £16.5 million The news has been a very welcoming one for the United fans all over the world who were rather frustrated on hearing statements like "has agreed terms and will join shortly" or envious rumours that Liverpool FC have increased the bid for the Lancashire born lad. But eventually, Phil Jones chose Manchester United after having a successful medical, where he would actually win trophies. On being asked about his future once in an interview, Jones said "I would rather stay at Blackburn trophyless than make a move to Liverpool FC". His quality of hating Liverpool is already winning him the support of United followers.

Phil Jones' red MUFC  t-shirt

The 19 year old Phil Jones has a twitter page too, so it might be worthy to follow him. Jones joins Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Gary Neville in the Twitter World. Follow him! @Ph1lj0nes. Phil Jones had an increase of 29,000 followers 7 hours within the news of his signing. Phil Jones is already a Twitter hit!


If you're thinking that Phil Jones was a pretty anonymous name before he joined MUFC in the 2011-12 transfer window, you maybe wrong! Being English, Jones has always been backed by the commentators, media and the the England players. On an encounter with Manchester United at Ewood Park this season, Jones successfully stopped big names like Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov, Antonio Valencia and even Ryan Giggs from scoring goals. His defending has been totally brilliant as he can defend all sorts of balls; be it corners, long balls, short passes. His strong physique allows him to be a strong central defender. If he stood besides Nemenja Vidic or even Wes Brown, one couldn't tell they're 10+ years older than him.




Here's Jones's performance against Manchester United this season (amazing defending)



Phil Jones marks the first transfer of the 2011-12 season, the season which could be United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson's last as he'll be turning 70 years old soon. The coming soon could be the most important one of his life as he looks to achieve a victory in the Champions League Final, something he's been failed to do since 3 years and twice stopped by Barcelona FC. So I feel there is a strong desire to prove to the world that SAF can still defeat Barcelona with his old technique of buying young and talented fledglings and turning them into golden sparrows. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane,.. The list can go on but the point is that Fergie's fledglings have attained a lot of glory in domestic and European tournaments however, we're still behind Liverpool's tally of 5 European trophies after just surpassing their 18 premier league titles. Phil Jones initiates what could be a massive squad building campaign this season since Paul Scholes, Edwin Van Der Sar and Gary Neville have already retired from the club. Finalising deals on Ashley Young and David De Gea are likely to be next on Manchester United's agenda.


Phil Jones and Chris Smalling undoubtedly represent Fergie's Fledglings and definitely hold the future to England and Manchester United defence. Chris Smalling who was purchased from Fulham in the last season on a transfer fee of £10 million has proven to be a strong defender and justified the high transfer fee for a 20 year old. Phil Jones is approx £7 million expensive than Smalling which only means he has been in great demand around the Premier League clubs. All in all, I feel Manchester United have done a great business with Fulham FC and Blackburn Rovers. Investing £17 million in young players will show its real value when both the U-21 players develop into strong men leading their way into England and Manchester United central defence. Phil Jones, has already been eyed as a future England captain contender, and after the joining Manchester United, his chances only get better.


Let's wish the newly signed Phil Jones all the best and hope to see his picture with David Gill, the Chief Executive of the club, after he returns from international duty.

Glory Glory Man United!

Man United Player of the Year Awards 2011 (Pictures + Awards)

The Man United Player of the Year awards 2011 event took place in the Manchester Suite, Old Trafford. The event was marked by United legends such as Alex Stepney, Paddy Crerand and many more. Also entertainers such as Keith Duffy made an appearance.


Here are the Award Winners:

Jimmy Murphy Academy Award: Ryan Tunnicliffe

Reserves Player of the Year: Oliver Gill

Goal of the Year: Wayne Rooney (overhead kick vs Manchester City)

Sir Matt Busby Fans' Player of the Season: Javier Hernandez

MASSIVE TROPHY for Luis Nani

Player's Player of the Year: Luis Nani

Here are some of the pictures of the event:

The story of Michael Owen and why he deserves a PL medal with Man Utd

Feels like Early Christmas for Michael Owen who finally wins a Premier League medal!

If you look at Michael Owen's portfolio and ponder at his achievements, you'll notice that he's scored many goals and a handful of important goals which has often resulted in match-winners. Michael's golden era in football came at Liverpool where he scored 118 goals in 216 appearances which is more than a goal in 2 games. But what you will also notice is that Michael hasn't won a single Premier League winners's medal.

Read on to know more about Michael Owen: 
After staying at Liverpool FC for 8 years (1996-2004), Michael sneaked an ambitious move to Spain at Real Madrid where he spent an unsuccessful season scoring just 13 goals in 36 La Liga appearances. Owen was mostly used as a killer sub while his time at Real and it's a no surprise he had the highest goals : minutes played ratio.


Michael made a switch to Newcastle FC in 2005 in an attempt to get back to England and emulate his Liverpool form. MO had a fantastic start to his Newcastle career but his form started to deteriorate next year primarily due to injuries . After managing to make a come back from an injury that kept him out for 18 months, Michael managed to injure himself on a regular basis.

MO couldn't save Newcastle FC from relegation in 2008-09 season and after scoring 26 goals from 71 apps, he moved to Manchester United as a free transfer on 1st July 2010. Owen's tenure at Old Trafford has seen more downs than ups. He lived up to his "injury prone" tagline. In the first season, Michael scored a crucial goal against Man City in September, 2009 after coming on as a substitute. It was by far his most important goal  in the 4 goals he's scored with United so far.


You can watch glimses of that crucial City goal in the video below: 

Michael Owen also scored a fantastic hat-trick in 2009-10 season against Wolfsbrug in the Champions League group stage round and provided United with an essential victory.  M07 also scored a killer goal in the Carling cup final against Aston Villa and did his hamstring moments later. Michael returned to football next season and had a sub-average pre-season after scoring a sweat goal against League of Ireland XI.


2010-11 has been a quite year for Michael so far. He's only scored once against Bolton Wonderers in a 2-2 draw away from home after coming off from the bench.  It was a sleek header to say the least.
If Manchester United go on and wins the premier league which they hopefully will, Michael Owen has a possibility of winning his FIRST! Premier League winners medal with a club that has been crowned  11 times since the league's formation in 1992.


However, the English Football Association (FA) has a strict rule about player winning winning medals:

"A player needs to appear in 10 matches in a title-winning season to qualify for a medal (inclusive of matches as a playing substitute)" 

(From: 2009–10 FA Premier League Handbook, Section B, paragraph 27. p.82) 

So far, Michael has only played in 8 premier league games this season and 2 more games will seal his winning medal provided United win the premier league of course! Here's a brief summary of Michael's 2010-11 season with Manchester United:

The 31-year-old striker has only started once for Sir Alex Ferguson, in October's goalless draw at Sunderland when he went off at half-time, and has scored once, a late equaliser at Bolton in September.

His deal expires at the end of the season and it is unlikely to be renewed after the success of newcomer Javier Hernandez. Owen has scored 148 goals in the Premier League and one more would give him the fifth-highest tally, after Alan Shearer, Andy Cole, Thierry Henry and Robbie Fowler.

Wes Brown and Antonio Valencia could also miss out on a title medal, having played seven and six games respectively. However, Valencia may be eligible for a medal after recovering from a horror ankle injury in March. 

So the question to be asked is "Does he deserve the Premier League Medal". Here's my answer:

I think it's an absolute no-brainer. Owen definitely deserves the medal and hopefully will sign a new contract at United. 

Manchester United have 5 more games to play in Premier League this season topped up with a possibility of 3 maximum UEFA Champions League games. United play Everton this weekend followed by Arsenal and Chelsea and then two slightly easy games against Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool FC on 22nd May, 2011 when the new Champions of England shall be crowned. 

Michael Owen has already said from his Twitter account  

"As I've already said, don't know where, don't know when, but there is an important goal to come from me this season - mark my words!"

 United who currently sit at the top of the Premier League table are chased by both Arsenal and Chelsea who are 6 points away from the Devils. Wins against Arsenal and Chelsea will definitely seal their 19th league title and and then Sir Alex can bring on Michael Owen in the next two games against Blackburn and Blackpool which means that Michael Owen will satisfy FA's 10 game policy and finally win a Premier League Winner's medal. 

19th title is coming home ladies and gents
GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED

NEWSPAPERS: New Hargreaves contract possible!

Owen's future is extremely unpredictable at the moment.. 

The Telegraph today has indicated that there is still an outside chance of Manchester United signing a new contract with the injury ravaged defensive midfielder Owen Hargreaves. Hargo's contract expires on 30 June, 2011 and it will definitely pinch United to lose a player of his caliber and especially at 30, when one sees a few more seasons in him. 

It is sad to admit that Hargo has only played about 6 minutes of Premier League football in the last 2 and a half years which has only led to further injuries.. The Canadian born was first injured due to a knee problem which he got treated in the US from the famous knee surgeon Dr Richard Steadman. But that didn't provide with an immediate solution, Owen had to wait for two years until the end of last season, where he got to play for 30 seconds in the last premier league game against Stoke City. Hargreaves could only manage a header. It wasn't a smooth road for the England player as he only lasted for 5 minutes against Wolves this season since he tore his hamstrings. As a result of which, he had to be replaced by Anderson who has recently recovered from a knee problem himself.

Just before the Bolton game, The Telegraph rumoured that Owen Hargreaves might contribute to rescue Sir Alex's defensive woes after so many injuries in our defense lately. However, that seemed to be a rumour or should be say a bad omen for Owen as he injured his shoulder a week after and is out for 2 more weeks.

Surely, Hargreaves will be in contention in the next two weeks and there would be loads of articles about him.
The Telegraph.co.uk has written about Owen again and it's again a positive news! But will this be another rumour or will Manchester United continue to put faith in their Calgary (Canada) born hard-fighting defensive midfielder?

(Please share your thoughts using the comment box below)

Rooney's goal provides United with a crucial away advantage (HD Goal video)

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL

1st Leg @ Stamford Bridge 

6th April, 2011

Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United

Rooney (24')

Enjoy Rantastic Rooney's amazing goal and celebration against Chelsea.. his 4th goal in 5 days!

United crosses the first big hurdle of the tournament

It was quite a glorious outing for Manchester United as they finally achieved a victory at Stamford Bridge after 9 years, the last one being in 2002.

Michael Carrick was on top of his game last night with some excellent display from the Englishman which will surely silence his critics for some time. He produced a wonder pass to Ryan Giggs on the left, who very meticulously set the goal up for Wayne Wazza Rooney. Rooney did no mistake in finding his target and kept his goal celebration simple and adorable. The smile on his face was million times better than the swear words he used after scoring his hat-trick goal at West Ham last weekend.

Michael Carrick is the Man of the Match in my opinion. Thanks to his "hollywood" pass to Ryan Giggs and an early goal in the game executed by King Rooney.

Some big games in the next 6 days.. First up is Fulham on 9th of April (Saturday).. KO at 14.00 GMT and then the second leg of the champions league quarter final against Chelsea on Tuesday, 12th April. Both games are at home so United will definitely look forward to get past Fulham and concentrate on knocking out Chelsea of the Champions League.


GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED. 

Grow up Mr. Wayne Rooney!

Wayne Rooney swore into the camera after his hat-trick against West Ham

Wayne Rooney's terrible year continues as he faces a two match ban due to his controversial swearing into one of the Sky Sports cameras after completing his hat-trick goal at Upton Park (West Ham)

Rooney publicly issued an apology saying that it was just a "heat of the moment" matter and he didn't intend to drop the F-bomb on anyone in particular. The fact is that Wayne Rooney is still a kid from within and he needs to grow up. The Liverpool lad scored his 100th league goal with Manchester United and that was DEFINITELY not the way to celebrate it.

The English Striker has until 6pm BST on Tuesday to decide on what to do with this punishment. He can accept the charge which will force him to miss Saturday's premier league action against Fulham at home and the FA cup clash with Manchester City at the new Wembley Stadium on 16th April. Alternatively, Wayne Rooney could appeal and risk being banned for even more games.

Wayne Rooney's loss can create a huge impact on United's attack. The 11 goals he has scored for United are all very important ones. However, the good thing is that this season United has been more reliant on other strikers rather than just the no. 10. The Previous season, Wayne was responsible for about 1/3rd of all the league goals. This season, the story has been very different. United has scored 68 goals (dated 02/04/2011) and Rooney has contributed only 16%. We've had 16 goals from Chicharito and 20 from Dimi Berbatov. Michael Owen has had a bad spell of injuries lately - however, the good thing is that he's available to play.

Rooney's loss is Michael Owen's gain. Finally, we can hope to see Michael back in action soon. Owen brings a lot of uniqueness in the game. His touches are superb and he's definitely one of the most killer strikers in the world ONLY if he spent lesser time recovering from injuries. Owen's contract with United expires at the end of the season and there have been rumours that the Englishman may be offloaded as a free-transfer. But if Owen impresses Fergie, then he may as well be offered a new contract. Owen, is keen to defeat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday and also wants to be a part of United team next season. This is what Michael Owen had to say

"I've made no secret that, in an ideal world, I would extend my stay. I would love to play here for longer but I will just wait and see what the club say. We've not held any talks yet"

Rooney however will play against Chelsea tomorrow, let's hope he can keep his mouth shut and answer all his haters with a superb display on the field.

Glory Glory Man United.  

Match 31 Highlights: Wayne Rooney hammers West Ham (and the camera too!)

WAZAAA

Wayne Rooney who scored his 100th goal with Man United against West Ham, scored 3 crucial goals within 14 minutes to make sure United are still leading the title race


West Ham 2-1 Manchester United
Rooney's free kick goal.

West Ham United 2-2 Manchester United
Lovely assist from Valencia, excellent first touch from Wazza.



West Ham United 2-3 Manchester United
Rooney finishes his hat-trick and abuses in the sky sports camera. He says "What? F*cking what?" That's a slap in the face of people who stopped trusting Wayne. Well done Rooney!



West Ham United 2-4 Manchester United
And finally, Hernandez took his goal tally to 17 for the season - 4 away from Dimitar Berbatov.

Owen Hargreaves suffers another injury blow (shoulder)

Hargo is injured again, this time it's his shoulder

TheReDevilSpot learns that Owen Hargreaves injured his shoulder while training yesterday (25/03/2011).

Owen, who had been training continuously for 2 weeks, certainly looked in contention to help United win the treble by playing the last remaining games. But now it's highly unlikely for the 30 year old to play another game for Manchester United as his contract expires this June. United would be keen to allow him to be out as a free-transfer which allows the devils to reduce their weekly salary bill too.

The latest shoulder injury would keep Owen out for at least 4 weeks on the fringes and after that, it's all about how he recovers. Owen is no doubt a soldier when it comes to fighting against injuries. We've seen that for the last two and a half years (the time since he last played a full game). The Canadian born just wouldn't give up which is great for him and the ethos of the team. Owen Hargreaves is indeed a role model.

We have been constantly tracking Owen's recovery, but this is a major setback for one of the world's finest defending midfielder. It was rumoured that Hargreaves might make a come-back against Bolton to try and rescue their defensive problems due to so many injuries lately. But indeed, it was a plain rumour.

It seems like oWen is a bad oMen for England as well as Manchester United as both our Owens (Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves) are too easily injured. They are the fragile elegance of our team.

Owen Hargreaves is soon going to be a forgotten man but surely he isn't amongst the hard-core United fans like yourself! So let's all pray for the lad and hope he makes a miraculous come-back in a month or so!

Glory Glory Man United!!

Match 30: Owen Hargreaves to make a surprise appearance against Bolton?

Manchester United vs Bolton Wanderers 

3.00 PM GMT KO

Old Trafford

I was chatting to a friend a month ago and discussing the chances of Michael Owen featuring in the upcoming fixtures. He jokingly said "Hargreaves has better chances!" Well it seems likes the funny comment may turn into reality tomorrow as Sir Alex is preparing to gamble the precious England and United midfielder to play as a right back in tomorrow's game. According to The Sun, Hargo played as a right back in the final training sessions at Carrington.

Wishing Hargo all the best!

Owen Hargreaves, who recently returned from a rehab programme in Germany, has only played about 6 minutes of club football in 2 and a half years after he was crocked with a horrible hamstring injury while playing against Chelsea.

Hargreaves has started only 25 games for United since an £18million move from Bayern Munich in July 2007.

The last game he featured in was the home victory against Wolves in which he only lasted 5 minutes. Hargreaves was then seen walking through the dugout holding his hamstring as if a serious trouble is upon him. I really admire athletes like Owen Hargreaves - he's a true never-give-up character and will keep fighting till he starts playing again which I'm pretty sure he will. Before the Wolves game, Owen has been spending time with a world-famous Orthopedic surgeon - Dr. Richard Steadman in the United States.

Hargreaves has been training with the first team this entire week. On Monday, we saw him working separately with Park Ji Sung who is also suffering from a calf injury setback. However, it is reported that later in the week he started working with the rest of the squad and looks fit to feature against Bolton Wanderers.

The Guardian (link) has named Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen and Taigo Bebe on the bench. Hopefully both the Owens will feature. Also there are high chances of Bebe being given another chance after one more impressive Reserves game! 


In days like these, when United squad is plagued by injuries, especially in the defence, Sir Alex Ferguson would fancy picking Owen Hargreaves. The Calgary born defensive midfielder can then help to rescue the sinking United defense and make sure the treble is ON! Sounds kind of ironic, but will Sir Alex risk playing a partially injured Owen to decrease our defensive worries? Well time will tell and hopefully Hargo serves more than 5 minutes this time!

What do you think?

Watch Chicharito's Coke advert (video)

At one point, Coke Zero must have feared about their popularity in the wake of Rooney's private life exposure which I WON'T talk about (consider it to be equivalent to Sir Alex's media blackout!). As a result of this fear, the American owners of Coke decided to take the ambassadorship away from Wayne Rooney early October and remove his image from any Coke Zero cans left in the stock. Arguably, it was a bold step.

Now Javier Hernandez has effectively replaced Wayne Rooney in the Coke advert and done his Mexican fans proud by featuring in a Manchester-based filmed, Spanish spoken advert which is now ON AIR in Mexico (Do enlighten me if it's elsewhere too - leave a comment or two!)

(The following video is taken from Manchester Express).
On 27 February, I announced that Chicharito will be featuring in a Mexican Coke advert. Now here you go, WATCH IT for yourself!

In case you're wondering what Chicharito is talking about, then here are the translations: (courtesy: TheRepublickOfMancunia.com)

Translation: I arrive at Manchester, and I knew I had to start at the bottom… soon everything began to change, why not try new things, why not make my parents proud, like I’m proud of them, why not lose that fear to lose, well why not.

Please recommend this article to any Red Devil you know and especially any Chicharito fans in Mexico, I'll take care of England!

Chicharito's 16th goal of the season ensures United's European progression.. HD Highlights

MANCHESTER UNITED 2-1 MARSEILLE 

Hernandez 5' 75'  Brown (O.G.) 82'

Watch both of Chicharito (Javier Hernandez's) goals against Marseille in this blog post.

Amamos Chicharito

Manchester United 1-0 Marseille

Hernandez's first goal against Marseille in HD. An easy tap in, Rooney's wonderful assist

Manchester United 2-0 Marseille

Chicharito's second goal against French Marseille, this time it's Giggs' who assists Javier Hernandez to achieve his 15th goal of the season.. a master goal from the little pea

16 goals for the no. 14

Manchester United are through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League and a big thank you to the little pea who contributed both goals of the game which came through some brilliant team play. Full credit goes to a rejuvenated midfield after enough criticism and a sharp attack lead by Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Valencia after the 60 th minute mark.

Overall, there were bad news on the defensive front as both O'Shea and Rafael caught hamstring injuries. Wes Brown FAILED... he actually played so under-par that he scored.... AN OWN GOAL. Brown will surely be under severe scrutiny from the boss and let's see if he gets another chance in the future. I won't be surprised if Fergie some one from the reserves the next time he plays a lower rated team. Vidic and Ferdinand are still injured and not ready until the international break. United has ony Bolton to face until then. So hopefully things should be on track from the month of April. But defensively, the game was a major concern.

A quick player rating section below:
VDS - 8- decent
Fabio/Rafael/O'Shea - 7
*Smalling*- 9 - loving him day by day
Evra- 7- ran a lot and led counter-attacks
Brown - 5 - a game to remember for Wes
*Carrick* - 8.5 - star man of the game - wonderful passing rate surprisingly, hope he maintains this
Scholes-8- a usual Champions league performance
Nani - 6.5 - came out of injury and proved his worth selfishly
Valencia - 8- really affective winger
Giggs - 7 - a bit shaky in the beginning, but then he showed his silver hairs
**Rooney** - 9.5 - Brilliant performance, though couldn't score, but just look at his tackele on the right!
**Hernandez** - 9 - Made brilliant runs. Formed great partnership with Rooney and proved destructive!

In case you have any comments PLEASE feel free to use the comment box below and make your opinion heard.

Till then sing along, GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED... THE TREBLE IS ALL OURS OURS OURS!!!

Please recommend this article to your loved Red Devils!