bedfordfitness

Poor finishing costs West Ham dear in 3-0 defeat

West Ham 0 - 3 Manchester United

Dean Ashton inj (6) David Villa (31,48), Paul Scholes (84)
Kepa inj (54) Ryan Giggs inj (82)

In what was a very even game at Upton Park, Man Utd came away with a comfortable victory due to superier finishing.

The cost of victory was expensive however, Ryan Giggs was carted off in the 82nd minute with a broken leg. Its likely the left winger will be out for 5-6 months.

Injuries played a key part in the result. Prior to the game West Ham had 5 first squad members out, including both keepers. Transfer listed reserve keeper Jimmy Walker deputised. West Ham also lost strikers Dean Ashton and Kepa during the game.

United opened the scoring after half an hour when Hargreaves fed a high ball to Johnson, who nodded to Scholes. Schole span around and fed a great through ball to Villa who thundered his shot from the edge of the area into the corner of the net giving the keeper no chance.

Just after the break Villa scored his second. Vidic lofted a free kick in the direction of Johnson who nodded it down to Villa who found himself in the clear with just the keeper to beat and his well placed shot found the top corner.

Just after Giggs was injured, United scored their third. Hargreaves lofted a ball 30 yds downfield, Johnson climbed above Anton Ferdinand and headed the ball onto Scholes who was in the clear and he calmly slotted home.

For United, new signing David Villa was clinical with his finshing, Johnson had a hand in all 3 goals and could be considered unlucky not to win man of the match, which went to Rio Ferdinand.

bedfordfitness

PMR

A great first up victory but at a massive cost. Giggs is out for 5-6 months, and probably wont regain full fitness much before the end of the season. Thats a cruel blow for him and the team, but fortunately we have plenty of cover.

Up til now we had been extremely lucky with injuries..there havent been any until Ryans broken leg.

In truth, the score flattered us a bit. Apart from the finishing the game was very even. Villa and Scholes took their chances well though.

We had dominance in the air throughout the game. Johnson had the edge over Anton Ferdinand and all 3 goals came from his knockdowns, and Rio and Vidic won everything that went their way.

All in all a great start apart from the Giggs injury.

bedfordfitness

Red Devils meet expectations in dominent win.

Manchester United 4 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

Eddie Johnson(4,21) Andy Todd sent off (33)
David Villa(71)
Cristiano Ronaldo(90)

Manchester United completely overwhelmed Blackburn Rovers in United's first home game of the season.

Wave after wave of United attacks washed over the visitors and it was only the skills of keeper Brad Friedel that prevented more goals. The Red Devils pounded the Blackburn defence unleashing 25 shots on goal.

Recently signed striker Eddie Johnson got the scoring underway in just the 4th minute. Debutant left winger Guardado moved the ball up the left before flicking to Evra who raced down the touchline before floating in the perfect cross for Johnson to head home on the near post.

Johnson double his tally 17 mins later when a Ferdinand headed a Blackburn clearance deep downfield and Johnson found himself clear and easily slotted home.

Any slight hope of a Blackburn comeback was effectively extinguished when Blackburn Captain Andy Todd was sent off for a professional foul after Van der Vaart had broken through and threatened to score.

Despite almost total domination United didnt add to the score until the 71st min when Villa latched onto a waywould clearance, got behind the defence and effortlessly slotted it past the Blackburn keeper.

On the stroke of fulltime, Guardado made another searching run down the left touch before delivering the perfect cross at the far post for Ronaldo to head home.

United Manager Peter Robinson was extremely pleased with the result and had special praise for Man of the Match Eddie Johnson.

"I thought Eddie turned in a performance of the highest quality. I thought he had a great debut against West Ham and today he was even better."

Johnson's exceptional athletisim was underpinned by his total dominance in the aerial contests against the undersized Blackburn back 4.

bedfordfitness

23rd August 2006

PMR
The fans are rapt with the result and so am I. Everyone had a good game, Guardado played exceptionally well on his debut. Van der Vaart had a solid if not spectacular first game, hes a little behind the others in match fitness. Pasqual aquitted himself well when subbed on in the 2nd half.

Only one change in the team for Reading. Paul Scholes comes back in replaceing VDV.


23rd August 2006

Scholes in top form as Man Utd brush aside Reading.

Reading 0 - 4 Manchester United

Paul Scholes (45,61,86)
Nani (66)

On a wet heavy pitch veteren midfielder Paul Scholes was in top form as he scored a hattrick with some explosive finishing.

In the difficult conditions United initially struggled to covert their dominance into goals. On the stroke of halftime Left back Evra produced a stunning 40yd throughball to Scholes who fired a ferocious shot from the edge of the area into the top right corner.

15 mins into the 2nd half and a Van der Sar long ball was nodded by Johnson down into the path of Scholes who hit a rightfoot piledriver to grab his second goal.

Johnson and Guadado, who both struggled in the conditions, were replaced by Saha and Nani.

Almost immediately Nani got on the scoresheet when a rebound from a free kick fell to him and he advanced and scored with ease.

Four minutes from time, Saha made a weaving run before feeding the ball to Evra in the area, who moved the ball right for Scholes to fire home for his hattrick.

Reading struggled all day to compete although they did force Van der Sar to make some fine saves with the limited opportunites thay had.

bedfordfitness

August Roundup

Player of the Month
1)Eddie Johnson, Man Utd
2)Rio Ferdinand, Man Utd
3)John Terry, Chelsea


Young Player of the Month
1)Cristian Ronaldo, Man Utd
2)Chris Hogg, Watford
3)Steven Davis, Aston Villa

Manager of the Month
1) Peter Robinson, Man Utd
2) Martin O'Neal, Aston villa
3) Martin Jol, Tottenham

bedfordfitness

9th September 2006

PMR
Couldnt have asked for a better start to the season, apart from Ryan Giggs injury. The team is in great spirits and playing some good football. After a raft of international fixtures we have 2 more injuries. Guardado is out for 1-2 weeks with a chest injury and Ratinho is nearly recovered from a bruised hip.

Nani comes into the side for the Middlesborough game to replace Guadado and Wes Brown and Rooney come into the reserves.

bedfordfitness

Villa in top form as Man Utd dominate

Manchester United 5 - 2 Middlebrough

Eddie Johnson(7).............Mark Viduka (34)
David Villa(pen 26,46,85)....James Morrison(55)
Stewart Downing own goal (44)

An efficient performance by Manchester United's players saw them confidently overcome a lacklustre Middlesbrough 5 - 2 at Old Trafford

Eddie Johnson headed home a Ronaldo corner cross at the near post to open the scoring in the 7th minute. Man Utd went further ahead in the 26 th minute when Johnson was brought down by Huth in the area and David Villa converted the spot kick

Middlesbrough finally got managed to put several good pieces of play together and for the next 10 minutes the United goal was under seige.

In the 34th minute Middlesbrough pegged the lead back when a perfectly directly corner cross from James Morrison was delivered to the far post where Viduka got in front of Rio Ferdinand and produced a stunning goal with bicycle kick.

Just before the break Man Utd scored again. Eddie Johnson knocked down a Gary Neville cross to Nani who advanced into the box and attempted to square the ball to Villa and the pass rebounded off Downing for an own goal.Half time 3-1.

Immediately aftert the break Man Utd extended their lead after Ferdinand passed the ball into the area looking for the run of Rooney. The ball cannoned off Rooney into the path off Villa who found himself in the clear with just the goalie to beat, and he calmly slotted home at the near post.

Middlesbrough pulled the lead back with an excellent flowing move. Viduka and Rochemback exchanged passes several times before Rochemback played a great forward ball to Morrison who dribbled past Neville and his shot from a narrow angle easily beat Van der Sar.

Middlesbrough continued to sustain pressure on United but United scored again 5 minutes before the final whistle from a breakout.
Ferdinand hit a 45 yd ball ahead of Rooney, Pogatetz scrambled the ball away but ownly to Hargreaves who played a pin point pass to Villa who lost his marker and found himself with plenty of room. Riggot parried the shot but directly back to Villa who slotted home for his hattrick.

bedfordfitness

PMR

Another great performance from the lads. Everything is going just swimmingly at the moment. The boards happy, the fans are happy, the squads moral couldnt be higher, even those who havent had a run yet. The press practically wrote off Middlesbrough before and after the game but they played well in patches, its just our finishing was pretty leathal.Thats been the story for all 4 games so far, we havent really dominated possesion but we have used the ball better, created more chances and finshed well.

After the game Queiroz filed a report on Villa which basically said he considered Villa was a talented player worthy of a first team slot...well isnt that a stunning insight!

Actually, Im not that fussed about some of the reporting around here. Some of the scout reports are a load of rubbish. Some of them are so incomplete I have to send another scout out to get some meaningful information. If things dont improve soon, one or two of them are going to get bounced.

Next up is our first ECC group game, away at Munchen. Not unhappy with the group we have drawn..Munchen, Sloven Liberic and FC Steaua Bucharest. Munchen will be tough though, they have some quality players, particularly on defence, and up front Podolski is in great form.

Starting lineup changes see Villa and Johnson given a break and Saha will start up front with Rooney. VDV, Carrick, Pasqual and Curtis come in for Scholes, Hargreaves, Evra and Vidic.

Team:
Van der Sar, Neville ,Ferdinand ,Curtis ,Pasqual,
Nani,Carrick, Ronaldo
Van der Vaart
Saha, Rooney

bedfordfitness

Monday 11th September

5 United Players were named in the team of the week:- Van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Nani and Villa.

Man Utd lead the Premiership on 12 points, 2 ahead of Aston Villa and Tottenham are 3rd another 2 points back. Defending champions Chelsea are fourth on 7 points with a game in hand. West Ham are bottom of the table, yet to score a point after 3 games.

Totalbet.com have Barcelona, Milan and R Madrid as 15-2 co-favourite to win the European Champiaons Cup title this season.

The rest of the main contenders are 10-1 Chelsea, 10-1 Man Utd and 12-1 Inter.

bedfordfitness

(Champions Cup Group F)

Munchen 0 - 1 Manchester United

Wayne Rooney (90)

Controversy surrounded the result of last nite Champions Cup Group game between Munchen and Manchester United.

After Wayne Rooney had put the visitors ahead in the last minute of regulation time, Munchen were denied a goal in the 4th minute of extra time when Roy MaKaay's strike was ruled out for offside.

On a clear dry night and in front of 66,000 screaming German fans the match got underway.
Neither team was prepared to push forward in numbers and the defence had much the better of the first half.

Munchen had a slight territorial advantage but most of their few shots on goal were from distance and did not trouble the United keeper.

United werent able to produce much on attack either. The back four of Munchen kept Saha and Rooney well in check and the German defence had almost total aerial dominance.

United best chance came in the 23rd minute when Left Wing Nani ran with the ball and put in a low cross to the near post where Van der Vaart found himself free but Musterman did well to parry the ball away.

There was a little bit of niggle in the game and Ronaldo, Nani, Neville, Schweinster were all booked.

Just before the break United had a sustained period on attack but the Muchen defence held. Then Sagnol spotted the run of Podolsky and played a lovely 45 yd pass and the striker got into the box before an excellent intervention by Neville cleared the danger.

At the break Man Utd boss Peter Robinson encouraged his team pointing out that in a tight game like this that one goal would do it. He took both Rooney and Carrick aside telling the pair he was disappointed with their effort and expected more of them in the 2nd half.

United went quickly onto attack as the 2nd half began and only a brilliant save by Musterman prevented United scoring when Van der Vaart curled a shot from a free kick just outside the area.

In the 53rd minute Van der Vaart again went close, Musterman parried the ball away and it looked like Ronaldo would score but Lucio blocked the shot from close range.

Both team then rang the changes, Podolski replaced by Santa Cruz, Scholl on for Park Ji-Sung, and Scholes and Johnson coming on for Van der Vaart and Saha.

United went for more of an attacking formation in the final 20 minutes but the Munchen defence held and it looked like the match was headed for a draw. After a rare Munchen attack, United counter attacked. Neville backpasssed to Van der Sar who cleared a long ball forward to Ronaldo on the right touch. Ronaldo brought the ball forward and put alow cross to the near post where Rooney got free and volleyed home the goal from short range.

United pulled all their players back for the final minutes of extra time and Munchen went hard onto attack and were nearly rewarded in the last seconds of extra time when Sagnols low cross from the right produced a vicious shot by Makaay into the top corner of the net, but the goal was disallowed as MaKaay was ruled to have been offside. Munchen were clearly upset with the decision

After the game neithre manager was prepared to comment on the decision however television replays showed that MaKaay was clearly offside.

Manuel Pasqual was deemed Man of the Match mainly for his defensive work. Munchen defender Lucio could be considered unlucky not to awarded this honour as he was completely dominant in the air and made several crucial defensive saves.

ECC roundup
In the other Group F game Steaua recorded a 1-0 victory over Sloven Liberec.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all won their respective games. There were no real upsets in the entire round apart from CSKA Moscow's 1-0 win over Roma.