If reports are to be believed Rooney is out with a stomach bug, and is left out of the trip to Craven Cottage. But going by recent trends, he might as well make it to the starting XI bust a gut, perform somersaults and end it with a split. Not that it would make pretty viewing, but since the official site says nothing about him being left out (so far) make of that what you will.

Continue reading “Fulham Preview”

United midfielder Rodrigo Possebon is set to join Brazilian club Santos. The deal is still in progress and is expected to be completed on Friday 20 August, but the two-times FIFA Club World Cup winners are keen to herald Possebon’s imminent arrival.

via ManUtd.com

The once promising midfielder was never really the same since his injury due to Pogatetz’ horror tackle. It may be said that his short-lived spell at SC Braga in Portugal didn’t do him any good either. A shame, but here’s hoping he’s carves out a nice career for himself with Santos.

“I’m so happy and excited to be back again after six months without football,” Anderson told ManUtd.com. “I’ve been really excited to be back. I’ve been so happy ever since I got back to Carrington and I just can’t wait to play again.

“I’m feeling good. I’ve been training for two weeks and I’m very happy. I think maybe very soon I’ll come back again and start playing normally with the rest of the team. I have had no problems at all with the injury. I’m just running and training now really hard, so I can come back and train normally with the team.”
“I think the new season will be very difficult because a lot of teams are becoming strong,” he admitted. “But in pre-season we have looked very strong and I think we will come again this season and we will aim to win everything.”

via ManUtd.com

After escaping unscathed in a car crash, he should be glad he’s not had a bigger setback. There have been plenty of questions on his attitude, leave alone inconsistent displays. And it remains to be seen how he puts those things behind him and focusses on regaining a midfield spot—a task made more formidable given Fletcher’s near-unimpeachable status and the other spot held by Scholes or Carrick.

It’s a fair shout to say that if he doesn’t manage to establish himself this season in the first team, it’s going to be hard for him to stay on. Anderson was the one to catch everyone’s eyes when he was signed alongside Nani. But it’s Nani who has established himself as a starter while Anderson has gone off the rails, blighted by a mix of injury and inconsistency.

The season kicks off on Monday for us, but let’s use this as an overall preview of the rest of the season as such.

Public perception has been that this summer is quiet on the transfer front. In reality it’s not been quite at all. If you add up signings made during last season and during this summer we’ll realize that the club has in fact spent about £25m on players. True they’ve been spent with the future in mind, but they are signings nonetheless, and what we cannot ignore is that hard cash has been put into players. This is not something that we can write off as pure PR, because money has been spent.

Continue reading “Looking Back and Looking Ahead…”

Rovers have swooped to secure a loan deal for Manchester United’s highly-rated young striker Mame Biram Diouf. The Senegalese international arrives on a season-long deal at Ewood Park.

via Blackburn Rovers Official Site.

I had a look at their squad and it looks a bit thin in the strikers department. Hopefully he gets a fair share of games. A season-long loan deal is probably good for him because on evidence of his pre-season performances he’s not going to get a nod ahead of Rooney, Berbatov, Owen and Hernandez. Even so, Macheda would be ahead of him in the pecking order.

“He is an exceptional young player in terms of his ability to play a variety of positions,” Sir Alex said on Friday. “He can play in central midfield and on both wings. He is such a talent, we must keep him. He showed at Watford that he’s a goalscorer from midfield and we need that. Apart from Darron Gibson, we don’t have a lot of goals coming from midfield. The days of expecting [Paul] Scholes to score 15 goals a season have gone now. So we needed to look at that area and there’s no doubt Cleverley has outstanding qualities as far as goalscoring is concerned.”

via Boss: Cleverley must stay – Manchester United Official Web Site.

Several reports over the past week said he’d be moving out on loan, but he isn’t. Yesterday, I’d remarked that I would prefer Cleverley to stay at the club. I would still like us to either loan or sell Gibson and give Cleverley an extended run in the side. If we’re not buying big stars we might as well give our more promising youngsters an extended run.

"I don’t know why people think it was a difficult decision," I always said I am happy here. I never spoke about my future. I know there was all this speculation but I never said I wanted to go. There was nothing new. I am very happy to be here."

via Vida happy to stay – Manchester United Official Web Site.

Great to hear, but my hunch is that this is his last season at the club, and that Smalling was bought with a view to eventually replace him. Which is great—buying Smalling, that is. We can’t really say the same of our midfield.

In other news, SkySports.com on Welbeck:

Skysports.com understands Manchester United have agreed to loan out Danny Welbeck to Sunderland. The Black Cats made an enquiry about taking the highly-rated striker on a season-long spell at the Stadium of Light.

And the Daily Mail reckons Roberto Martinez has sealed a loan deal for Cleverley at Wigan.

If true, I hope Welbeck gets enough minutes at Sunderland. I trust Steve Bruce to give him more minutes. I don’t believe Welbeck will make it at United, but given regular minutes in the Premier League could change things.

On the other hand, I really like Cleverley a lot. In fact, if we were not to buy any midfielders come 1st of September, I’d probably give him a good go in the centre of midfield ahead of Gibson. I was worried about talk of a possible loan move to Newcastle or Bolton because he’d likely play for a side that will be forced to scrap their way through the season. Wigan could also be forced to do that, but Roberto Martinez likes his side to actually play football. And if that means playing Cleverley more often in the attacking role, then it would be wonderful.

Hopefully it’s Wigan instead of Bolton or Newcastle.

Rooney, absent for United’s pre-season tour of North America, might even have capped his return with a goal, blazing over after Gary Rogers, the St Patrick’s Athletic goalkeeper, had saved Darron Gibson’s shot His performance, though, offered more than enough evidence for Sir Alex Ferguson to consider his totemic forward ready for a rather more competitive run-out against Chelsea in Sunday’s Community Shield. [...] After Hernandez’s introduction, though, that may not be enough to guarantee the former England player a starting place against Carlo Ancelotti’s team.

via Airtricity League Select XI 1 Manchester United 7: match report – Telegraph.

Quite. I don’t want to jump too readily onto the Chicharito-bandwagon because I try to wait till I see it in a proper contest, but Hernandez is making it difficult for me.

More of this in the season please. Oh, and Owen, what a great goal!

Meanwhile, all goal videos here.

Or should we say his lack of comment? His economy of phrasing ought to get tongues wagging.

When quizzed about speculation regarding Vidic leaving OT, he said, “I can’t clarify it at all.” Journalists pressed further and asked if he was going to play at United this season and he replied, “I believe so.”

Continue reading “United scrape past Philly, but Fergie’s comments on Vidic grab headlines”

I think it’s best to stick my head out and say it—with the barely lingering hope of jinxing it and being proved wrong—that we aren’t going to sign anyone. [Fergie, prove me wrong.]

We can only go by evidence. And save for the signings we made in the close season, it’s unlikely we are going to sign any.

Continue reading “Pre-season and summer roundup”