FT. 0-1 for Manu. Ronaldo scored and we take 3 points with us to OT. Good notes for today: VDS, MVP (2 brilliant saves) and Rooney played 71 minutes, getting more and more in the game as the match went on. And maybe most important of all, next to the 3 points, was that we didn’t really have to burn energy and with Ronaldo’s first ManU goal of the season, the confidence now certainly will grow and everything looks like Jose might have preferred not to travel to OT on Sunday. I bet tomorrow the’ll start whining already about all the injuries, low quality of the other players aso.
Wait, that’s what he has been doing last 3 weeks already.

I’m out here, see ya tomorrow… and Sunday, LIVE REPORTING again!

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Tags:   Sporting Lisbon · UCL

Now the Prem has well started, it’s time to have a first look at our Fantasy Footie League.
We have 32 participants, competing for the $500 prize, so far. Of course it’s never too late to join in and much can change quickly in this game.

After 6 gameweeks, Funky Toon F.C. and Riverdale United have taken a clear early lead, and Funky Toon F.C. could still score points today when Newcastle tries to add another victory to their not too bad balance this year. After the jump, at the end of the entry, a screenshot of the Top #20 so far.

With the Champions League starting tomorrow, of course we also launch another league, for the UCL only. ((only for fun this time!))
Join this league at the official official UEFA site and after you have signed up and created your team, use the code

111162-18831

to join this league.

And now to the funnier parts. John Terry.

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Tags:   Champions League · Fantasy Footie · John Terry

Hi all, it is almost that far again. It’s now 15.26, in around 30 minutes we’ll cover the home game against Spurs live on this site. The site will reload every 10 seconds during the game.

Any predictions from you before we start? I am loyal and stick to my almost traditional prediction now and say 3 - 0. Tevez, Scholes and Giggs.
Berbatov fit for Spurs.

I’m out here, see you later, guys.

94′ FT! 1-0. Nani wins us the first 3 points this season and that with what certainly will be the goal of the week. Poor Jol, Spurs fought hard, but we scored and won. And we had the upperhand over the whole game.

94′ Berbatov offside.

93′ Bale effort, bad pass, no one coming there and Owen clears.

Rio wins the ball, Nani gets launched, but Zokora obstructs and Nani can’t control 100%. Spurs breaking out after clearance by Robinson.

No danger this time.

Nani - Giggs - Brown - Fletcher - Scholes - vidic - Brown - Owen - changes to Nani Chimbonda wins the bal. 2 minutes now.

Nani - Scholes - Giggs - nice touch to Scholes but cleared - Giggs again but powerless. Free kick for Robinson.

90′ 4 minutes injury time

89′ Eagles wins the ball and obtains a throw in. We needed that to get some air.

88′ Rio - Owen brilliant pass to Fletcher - Evra - Eagles. Owen far off.

Midfield belongs to Spurs now. Giggs gives us some yards. 5 Minutes to go.

The game is open now, Spurs pressing but we stand.

49′ Owen - Carrick - Rio - Vidic - Evra - Owen … Evra wins ball back.

47′ Giggs corner, cleared by Jenas in front of Vidic. Foul on Malbranque

Deep pass Carrick on Brown. Corner won by Brown

And there we go again with our game. Pressure and looking for the whole in the Spurs organisation.

46′ ManU 2nd HT kick off. No changes so far.

What will happen now? We still haven’t found the net at OT this season and we haven’t played out a genuine chance either today. Right now I see 2 options: whether we score early in the 2nd half and then the party starts and many goals will follow. The other scenario reminds me of last week.

45′ Half time. 0-0. We control the game, Spurs are fast to go forward when they win the ball, but most of all they are solid at the back. What a suprise from Spurs!

44′ Fair tackle Chimbonda on Evra. Nice work. Corner for us. Evra attempt off target. 2 Minutes injury time.

Hard challenge on Evra there.

41′ Foul Giggs on Lee. Yellow. Tackle from behind, but looked clean tho.

40′ Rio - Scholes - Carrick, finds Tevez…. Owen - bad pass but good effort and Owen gets the ball back. We play too much through the middle at the moment.

38′ Scholes - Carrick - Nani. Too sharp, off target.

Forward again. Carrick - stupid ball loss Evra. Malbranque to Berbatov but too long pass. VDS.

37′ ManU again going forward. Lee cleares… against Scholes. We are just waiting for ‘it’ too happen. Can’t take too long anymore before we find that hole.

Tackle Evra -, Tevez - Nani -Evra again - Giggs. Spurs close on the ball. Tey look like Italian City at the back right at the moment.

34′ Huddlestone attempt. Was a little too weak.

Vidic tackle on Chimbonda who could run in the box totally alone, but Vidic recovered.

31 ‘Rio - Scholes - Giggs - Rio - Tevez - Nani. Good pressure, but Spurs are concentrated at the back.

29 ‘Giggs - Tevez 1-2, but Giggs still isn’t really awake today. Foul by Owen

Hargreaves impeccable again in the midfield.

28′ Offensive foul by Berbatov. Long ball Rio, but just too deep for Tevez.

Offside Evra.

26′ Offside Bale. Quick free kick. Tevez. Finds Owen, passes to Scholes. Just over. That was a great play and chance.

Dangerous play of Nani.

24′ Another corner for us, headed away. ManU pressure.

Pressure game of ManU. Will we find the goal now? Carrick…. Carrick!!! Just of target. That was close!

Tevez effort. Another throw in.

Owen now. Scholes, Rio, Tevez cross. Throw in for us.

22′ Vidic - Nani in real Ronaldo style and also runs dead on a defender too.

Weak corner, via via in the feet of Owen, shoots. Deflected, ball lands in front of Rio. What a great try and what a save!

Fast game, down the pitch. Corner for ManU now.

Saved by Vidic. Sliding in Berbatov’s feet. He could have finished there.

Oh my VDS! Ball down the line, hits corner flag and VDS kick out.What was that ‘control’ Throw for Spurs

19′ Berbatov going down the line. Evra tackle - Hargreaves - Scholes.

Don’t know what Giggs did there, but time for him to wake up. Spurs are very fast on the ball. We need to stay concentrated at the back.

Foul Nani. That was a almost Scholes-tackle!

14′ We seem to have problems connecting with the forwards, but that is rather logic in this high paced game. Expect soon something to happen at OT.

We got away well there. Free kick for VDS.

12′ Solid effort by Bale. Won a corner for Spurs

This is Utd as we know it, defense plays almost on the midfield line.
11′ Looking to find a hole in Spurs organisation.. Scholes - Tevez - Nani cross. Giggs didn’t get that one correctly.

9′ Ferdinand and Brown solid as usual, Spurs will have problems to break through. We are starting to control the midfield now.

Carrick trying with deep passes again, but they seem a little too deep. Tevez in his usual fighter style puts pressure on defense every time.

7′ Brown solid in defense.

What a pass from Carrick. Just a little deep for Tevez!

6′ Carrick playing very withdrawn. Does that mean we’ll see Brown and Evra go deep often today?

5′ Looks like we’ll see an attractive and very fast game today.

3′ Finally ball for us. and Spurs retract immediately in their third! Attempt from Giggs. Over

First two minutes for Spurs, we are running after the ball.

Immediately an effort by Berbatov to Keane, after bad pass from Nani- cross bar saved us!

1′ Kick off, Spurs won the toss

15.55 Here we are, no changes in our line up after last weeks game: EVDS, Brown, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Nani, Giggs, Tevez

Tags:

COM’ON YE REDS!!!

Hi all, live reporting the game today. The post page will auto-refresh every 60 seconds during the game.
Sigh, I feel sorry for Sven already!

Remember 1999 lads? We started with two draws that Season. Poor City!

ManUtd Line-up
First surprise in our line-up with Hargreaves in the midfield: EVDS, Brown, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves (!!!), Scholes, Nani, Tevez and Giggsie!

Steve McLaren blowing sun up the bottom of Sven, in the Sky box. I wonder what willl happen when City finally faces decent opposition and teams who control the game. We’ll see in the next minutes what happens, because if we’ve shown one thing in the last games it’s that we do control games.

Do you think City feels strong having Peter’s son in the goal?
Peter Schmeichel obviously hopes for a 0 - 0. I don’t think that will be the end score, although it would be great for my Fantasy League team having both Rio and Richards in my defense, but I still hope for 0 - 3.

SAF says that Owen might not play the full game

Bianchi substitute at City

Fletcher even not benched, Darren Campbell on the bench. Due to all the injuries, our bench looks nothing like a Treble candidate bench but more like a Third league bench.

Our midfield - attack is very interesting IMHO. I can see much movement in between player. And probably some spicy tackles from Scholes too!

Before we start a shameless plug for our newest project: ManUtd Blog News. Go submit your ManU stories!

Here we go. Com’on lads!!!

Surprise, surprise! City can actually pass, one time action and first foul by ManU. Brown tackle.

First Hargreaves touch. Midfield very busy. We see an Italian City, immediately two guys on every ball.
3′ Geovanni foul.

City right now seems to be happy when they can clear the ball.
5′ Brown - Scholes - Tevez - Scholes - pass to Nani. First chance. Nani on Schmeichel and rebound by Nani also saved by Schmeichel.

What a chance that was! City obviously in problems with our fast passing game. City concedes first corner. Taken by Carrick and cleared.

Bojinov taken off on stretcher after unlucky landing in a header duel.

We clearly dominate the first minutes.
8′ Bojinov replaced now by the Belgian Emile MPenza.

Oh oh oh, what a stupid combination game and ball loss from ManU, luckily Scholes recovered the ball.
City seems to come back and play less hectic in the midfield, but we are strongly organized and Evra clear before City can become dangerous.

Pushing again. Carrick - Brown. Stupid loss and we go all the way back to Vidic.
Sky blues are organized, but still their midfield plays right BEFORE the box. It’ll be hard to find a hole in there.

We almost conceded a corner there! Guys stay concentrated at the back dammit!

VDS kick off.

14′ Second Les Brown foul on Petrov. Gets away with a warning. Pheew.

This is really going to be a hard game, an Italian midfield battle.

Owen showing how strong he is with ball at the foot.

16′ Another chance for Nani! Low sot from just outside the box! Easily saved by Schmeichel.

Oh, Tevez could have gotten more out of that, with Giggs running in the box!

Keano watching the game too.

18′ Once again VDS touches the ball, but so far he never had to catch a ball coming from a City player.

I agree with Sky commentators, the goal is upcoming there. Looks like we can find that hole any minute now and take the lead!

19′ What a weak header from Tevez. This could have been the chance!!! Kasper Schmeichel catches easily!

Richards challenge on Tevez. Again Carlos was close to break through!

City can’t combine more than 4 passes at once. Who did say that Sven was doing a great job? Looks more like Championship relegation team to me.

I just was going to say that Evra was remarkably invisible, and then a great pass from Nani, deep to Evra who totally missed his shot!!! I remember that Kasper Schmeichel style!!!! Seems like Kasper has watched many ManU games!

Skysports commentators claiming penalty. Whatever. It’s football, not a knitting game.

Hargreaves doing a great job in the midfield.
26′ Tevez almost through!!! Cleared, that was a little too far to make that great bridge. Carlito pushing, minutes I tell you before we score!!!

This could become Tevez game today. But Nani is also playing very well, I’d say his best game so far.

28′ Scholes should have launched a rocket there! Lost the ball even before he pulled off. Damn he had space there.

29′ First chance for City. Johnson shortly though he was playing for Wigan, Super League that is. And even then it would have been way wide.

31′ NO!!! Marvelous shot by Geovanni. VDS only watches how the ball passes. 1 - 0 for City. Damn, even a hung over would feel better now.
Deflected by Vidic. That was a strike tho. VDS chanceless (for him, the father would have gotten this easily) because of the deflection.

One chance, from more than 25 yards. And there they go. What did SAF say? Don’t panic????

Suddenly City is able to push our midfield back in our half.

Stupid Giggs ball loss. City pushing now.

Luckily Sven brought MPenza in. He didn’t know what to do with the ball, but we certainly need to wake up again. Anyone remember other games lately when we didn’t bounce back after a goal???

Giggs today totally useless. Seems a free hair dryer treatment for him during half time!

38′ Finally we are taking control back, a chance for Giggs. The outcome is clear I guess. Nada, zilch noppes!
Tevez couldn’t score after Schmeichel’s poor control.

We still look poor in the midfield. Tevez fighting, but again ball too far away from his foot.

42′ Giggs shot blocked by Dunn.

43′ Nani shot from almost 30 yards! Just off target.

Replay shows Schmeichel touched the ball.

Pushing now in the last minutes. It is obvious we REALLY NEED a STRIKER! We’ve had 4-5 decent chances and never did we make something with them. Attractive football just isn’t enough.

Dunn is playing very well in the middle of the City defense.

Half time.
So far a very bitter season start for us. Shit, this hurts. Against City.

Smoke, new Stella and a power charge for the battery now. Be back soon!

45′ And we’re back. SAF not laughing like during the first minutes anymore.

The moods here in the pub are obviously somber. We’ll have to see if the half time speech of SAF can do any miracles and restore the ManU pride.

Deep pass, Nani went for and we get a corner from it.

47′ Giggs… VIDIC!!! No.
Scholes kicks the rebound of target.

ManU looking to set the pace again. Midfield is ours again.

49′ Cross from Nani cleared by Dunn.

50′ Another corner for us. That’s number 6. Carrick TWICE against Brown.
City only clears half. Unlucky Ferdinand Hamann challenge and Hamann gets the foul.

51′ We are starting our passing game again, but still don’t find the hole in City’s defense.

53′ Hargreaves - Scholes, Owen again - Nani - still Nani - Giggs. Low cross Giggs!!!
Who clears? Richards.

55′ Advantage Evra - Giggs. FOUL! Yellow for Dieter Hamann

56′ Booking for City again! Tevez sillyly pulled down bor Corliuca.

Bad, really bad cross from Nani inside the box

57′ I haven’t seen City in our half anymore last 7 minutes, but maybe I better shuttup before they do it again.

Carrick - Giggs - Scholes - Owen - Brown - Nani blocked by Richards.

Scholes - Giggs - Tevez - Schoooles!!! Way of target.

59′ Nani replaced by Chris Eagles. Nani and I thought he was one of our better players.

Giggs cross!!! Tevez misses his sliding. Gaping goal. Dammit!

Striker!!! That’s what we need!

61′ Evra cross. Taken out of the air by Schmeichel.
Reading game comes to mind here: 22 shots on no goal. But Reading didn’t score either. City has tho.

62′ Elano replaced by Bianchi.

Eagles shot deflected. Corer #7

63′ Giggs corner cleared by Hamann and City breaks out over Bianchi. Cleared by Evra who was the last man standing!

64′ Was that a cross or a shot from Tevez?

I have to quote the boss here: The performance is OK.
But we just don’t score, Alex.

65′ Stupid foul by Hargreaves on Geovanni. Free kick for City.
Geovanni straight on VDS.

Carrick - Giggs - Owen wide on Eagles. inswinging cross on Tevez. Cleared by Dunne. Again

Fight! Fight! No, just a tough Fderdinand Corliuca wrestling second.

69′ All credits today to Dunne and Richards. They stand strongly, as we know it from Rio and Vidic.
Tevez offside.

71′ Petrov offside after stupid ball loss.

Eagles on Kasper who plays well today.

Hargreaves - Scholes - Owen - Giggs, Giggs cross and no one who runs in. Wait a second, that was a high ball. Who would go in there anyway???

72′ O’Shea for Brown and Frazier Campbell making his Prem debut for Carrick.

73′ Goal scorer Geovanni replaced by Michael Ball for City.

Dunne, Dunne, I don’t think I can hear that name anymore after today. Cleared again.

Possession ManU: 67%. If only we could score now.

76′ Tevez shot off. Schmeichel was there anyway.

I’m sure my heartbeat right now is higher than Tevez’s. doesn’t look like a £400 red wine bottle for SAF today.

77′ What a rocket by Corliuka!!! Luckily it went over!

78′ That should have been another corner for after Evra’s effort. But not given.

We still control the game, times City is dangerous are really rare, but we surely have to watch out for another City goal.

81′ Giggs and Scholes needed to clear in the midfield. Immediately after Schmeichel keeps Eagles from going for the ball.

Man United so far best stats ever I suppose when it comes to possesion, chances and everything this season. But we only scored once in 262 minutes so far!

82′ Mpenza foul. Can someone swing that ball in or put his head against Owen’s kick?
Richards clears. Now that’s a surprise!
[/sarcasm]

84′ Owen coming back to clear Johnson.

Worst start if we lose today. 12 Days to get a striker before the transfer window closes.

86′ Tevez shot off. Not deflected, nothing. Just.off.

86′ Mpenze. What a shot??? What a cross? And then people doubt that the Belgian National Team isn’t represent among the top teams anymore.

87′ We’re pushing, but don’t get really dangerous. Tough aerial challenge on Dunne by Owen. Almost 2 minutes pass.

89′ O’Shea wins a corner. His cross blocked by Dunne.

What a chance!!! How could Tevez miss this????

4 Minutes injury time!

Can we push it. 1999. Sheringham, that’s what we need now!

92′ Another corner for us. Hamann clears and VDS has to run back.Petrov tried from 80 yards, but off and VDS was just back in time.

92′ Yellow for Tevez. We don’t need another booking or suspension now!!!

93′ Last throw in, Dunne clears. Again.
Hargreaves - Scholes - cleared by Dunne.

94′ Final whistle. What a friggin’ shame!!! 1 - 0 for City.
Can’t believe I put on the 1999 kit for this game. We lost from City. We have 2 points after 3 games.We are 7 points behind CITY!!!

We are champions of chances and shots so far.
And Sven did what he does best: organize a great defense, conceding few goals and score when they break out. Italian? Maybe but it worked. We now are only just above relegation zone.
SAF has some explaining to do now. Injuries won’t do it. We’re ManU, we have to perform, no matter what.
Looks the season is gone already, imagine Chelsea and Liverpool win today. Arsenal is leading 1-0 against Blackburn Rovers now.

And I’m out here, maybe an analysis to come later today, but don’t hold your breath on that. I’ll live report again in a near future. Chelsea game?

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