Manchester United’s defensive woes continue to haunt it as defender Nemanja Vidic has been sidelined for at least ten days following an injury he suffered in his leg.

Vidic is one of the most consistent defenders in the team and his injury comes at a very bad time for the Red Devils. Vidic suffered his injury during the warm-up for the FA Cup third round match versus Leed United. The Red Devils will go on and lose 1-0 and handing Sir Alex Ferguson his first ever third round defeat in the FA Cup every since becoming United’s team manager.

Because of the injury, Vidic will definitely miss the match against Birmingham this weekend and the game against Burnley next weekend.

Vidic’s injury is just one of the many injuries the Red Devils’ defensive side has suffered this season. Vidic’s partner, Rio Ferdinand, has been sidelined for months because of his own injury problems.

We’ll see how Vidic’s problems get resolved especially since there are also rumors that he is unhappy at Old Trafford and would like to move to another team, preferably Real Madrid.

Tags:   injury. · Nemanja Vidic

Manchester United’s goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has been announced to have been given an indefinite compassionate leave after her suffered a personal crisis. Van der Sar’s wife suffered a brain hemorrhage.

Van de Sar has not played since Manchester United’s win over Everton because of a knee injury. Because of the unfortunate medical emergency, he was allowed to go back immediately to Holland. He will just receive treatment for his knee from a Holland-based team doctor.

There is no news yet on the condition of Van der Sar’s wife. Annemarie van Kesteren is 36 years old. She is being examined to find out the cause of the problem.

Our well wishes for the speedy recovery of Annemarie.

Tags:   Edwin Van der Sar

I’ve blogged a couple of weeks ago about Rio Ferdinand’s injury situation and how Ferdinand thinks he’s nearing his comeback.

But it looks like his health woes are still not behind him. Ferdinand recently had an injection in order to help ease his back problems that have been blamed as the cause for all of his health problems.

Ferdinand has been out of action since the last week of October and even though Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Ferdinand is not out on the long-term, he has missed 13 games already. At this point, there really is no good news yet and his schedule for a return remains uncertain.

Ferdinand has remained optimistic about his situation and has even promised that he will be available for the World Cup in South Africa next summer.

I admire Ferdinand for keeping an optimistic attitude despite his injury and health problems. It’s tough not being able to know whether you can really get back to your old fighting form but Ferdinand is keeping his chin held high and I believe that his positive attitude will help him recover more quickly from his injury.

At the launch of his new charitable Foundation last week, Ferdinand insisted his place at next summer’s World Cup in South Africa was not in jeopardy.

It was an important statement, not only in terms of a health bulletin but also the positive attitude it betrayed.

Tags:   Rio Ferdinand

With football season about to reach its second half, all eyes should be on Manchester United’s new acquisition.

Sir Alex Ferguson is banking on Mame Biram Diouf to add more pop and crackle to Manchester United. The Senegalese born striker is already hard at work training at Carrington and already possesses a work permit.

A lot of weight is being given to Diouf, especially with talk that he can be the next Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In fact, it was Solskjaer himself who recommended Diouf to Sir Alex. His glowing recommendation was one of the reasons Fergie signed him. Now a lot of talk has been given the fact that another potentially explosive forward with not much experience is being signed into the team (we all know that Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck fit the bill and they’re still not getting the minutes) but I trust Sir Alex’s decision. He’s proven that he has the keen intuition to know what the Red Devils need.

Diouf will still need to impress Manchester United fans though. But it looks like he will have what it takes to really win them over. He’s got the talent and the abilities that could really help in the quest for another Premiership title.

Tags:   Diouf · Sir Alex Ferguson · Solskjaer

It didn’t come as a surprise at a ll.

Ryan Giggs has signed a new contract with Manchester United, extending his stay with the Red Devils until the summer of 2011.

The new one-year deal will mean that Giggsy will be staying at Old Trafford past his upcoming 37th birthday. Giggs has been declared the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and with good reason, the man has been in fine form this season. We all know that Giggs is a stable and consistent player but this year looks like he has upped his game and he’s been performing exceptionally well. In the Fantasy League I play in, practically everyone has him on every team roster, and that’s a fair indicator of the numbers he’s been putting out this season. Even Sir Alex Ferguson couldn’t help but remark about the amazing form Giggs has been showing this season.

Tags:   Manchester united · Ryan Giggs

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand has seen scant action this season.

The Red Devil center-back has been injury plagued of late and has not played for the team since the Red Devils’ 2-0 loss against Liverpool last October. He’s been sidelined because of a calf injury that has been traced back to a back problem he’s had in the past.

There’s been much speculation on Ferdinand’s injury including talk that his injury is far more serious than what is being reported. But Sir Alex Ferguson has repeatedly denied that Ferdinand’s injury will be long-term. Fergie has also expressed confidence that Rio will be back soon to help in the Red Devils’ cause and to defend the team’s Premier League championship.

It’s no surprise that Manchester United’s defensive capabilities has been severely tested because of the injuries its defense has suffered. Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Jonny Evans and Gary Neville have all been injured and are now in the sidelines slowly recovering from their injuries and helplessly watching their team as it tries to maintain its position in the Premier League table. But in fairness, the injuries of some of the team’s top defensive players show Fergie’s strong knack for picking the right boys because the team has only conceded three goals since Ferdinand last appeared.

If your reserve members are playing this well, it shows just how deep the talent is in Old Trafford.

Tags:   injury. · Manchester united · Rio Ferdinand

As expected Sir Alex made different changes to the squad and the Red Devils started with a completely different line up. Foster made his return in goal and as predicted Fabio, Michael Owen, Danny Wellbeck and Machedo all started. Other players to start were Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Rafael Da Silva, Evans, Anderson and Obertan who made his debut for ManUtd.

It were ManUtd who started the game furiously and after only 6 minutes Danny Wellbeck headed in from a corner from Anderson. We dominated the game with a not too impressive performance but we can easily say that the ‘youngsters got the job done’. Both Obertan and Wellbeck had chances after ManUtd took the lead but failed to convert. The last 10 minutes of the first half were controlled by Barnsley who couldn’t convert either, even though Foster had to concede 4 corners in that period.

Danny Wellbeck celebrated Powel style. Continue reading »

Tags:   Barnsley FC · Carling Cup · Danny Wellbeck · Gabriel Obertan · Gary Neville · League Cup · Michael Owen · Zoran Tosic

Tonight we play the fourth round of the League Cup, AKA Carling Cup or Milk Cup, away at Barnsley. There’s not much to say about this game other than that we can expect many changes again and it is likely that Fabio Da Silva will start, together with Owen and possibly also Macheda and Wellbeck. If Darren Fletcher is recovered from his groin injury picked up during the international break he might also feature.

For Alex Ferguson it will be an ‘emotional’ meeting with the guy who once saved his career and allowed the gaffer to become one of the most illustrious manager s in the history of the game: Mark Robins.

As usually highlights will be updated on the Manchester United blog Facebook page, followed by thoughts afterwards.

Tags:   Barnsley FC · Carling Cup · Darren Fletcher · Fabio Da Silva · Mark Robins · preview. · Zoran Tosic

It has taken a while to recover from Sunday’s game. Losing always is difficult, but losing to the Scousers is even harder. And Sunday’s game was one of those where nothing worked.

Let’s admit it: they ran faster, ran harder and wanted it more. And they had the support of top flight unexperienced referee Andre Marriner who blatantly helped the Dippers.

Last but not least… Ngog scored.

How to overcome all this?

Continue reading »

Tags:   Analysis · Liverpool FC · Michael Carrick · Paul Scholes · wayne rooney

15 Years ago after a thrilling 3-3 draw The Kop unrolled this banner at the end of the game.

Tags:   Eric Cantona · Glory · Liverpool · Titles