bedfordfitness

PMR

Well thats was a close one. We couldnt break down their defence all game apart from the last minute, when Ronaldo and Rooney produced a bit of magic. The Munchen Brazilian central defender Lucio had an outstanding game, We will keep an eye on him.

We are away at Tottenham on Sunday. Guardado and Ratinho are still out. Evra, Vidic, Hargreaves, Scholes, Johnson and Villa will come back in.

Team:

Van der Sar
Neville, Ferdinand,Vidic, Evra
Ronaldo,Hargreaves,Rooney
Scholes
Johnson,Villa

Reserves:
Kuszczak,Brown,Pasual,Nani,Saha

bedfordfitness

17th September

Tottenham hold firm to deny Man Utd

Tottenham Hotspur 2 - 1 Manchester United

Dimitar Berbatov(11)....Eddie Johnson(21)
Jermain Defoe(65)

Tottenham Hotspur had luck on their side as they played out an entertaining English Premier Division fixture against Manchester United.

Tottenham were on the defensive for long periods of the match, but did just enough to carve out a good 2-1 victory.

Referee Alan Wiley got the match underway in front of a crowd of 36,000 at White Hart Lane. For the first 10 minutes United attacked with vigour but the Tottenham defence held firm. Then in the 11th minute Tottenham struck. Keeper Robinson delivered the ball to Chimbonda, and he played the ball down the left to Modric who crossed perfectly to the far post where Baratov out-jumped Ferdinand and powered home the header.

Manchester United came back onto attack and it was no surprise when the equaliser came. Johnson made a searching run down the left but was fouled by Lennon. From the resulting free kick, Ronaldo crossed to Johnson at the near post and he headed home after 21 mins.

Both teams then played attacking football for the remainder of the half, but dispite several close shaves for both sides the score remained unchanged.

At halftime United Boss Robinson encouraged his team but took Spanish Striker David Villa aside for a word. Villa was practically invisible in the first half and Robinson wanted more from him.

After the break both teams again entertained the crowd with attacking football. For the first 10 minutes United laid seige to the Tottenham goal but desperate defence kept them out. Uniteds best chance came in the 56th min. Rooney centred the ball to Johnson who powered a header goalward, Robinson parried but straight to Villa who fired a close range shot from a narrow angle. Robinson billiantly parried again but the loose ball fell to Scholes who shot from close range and Robinson parried again, this time to safety.

The play then went up and down the pitch as both teams sort to take the lead. Tottenham prevailed when Rocha cleared the ball deep to Defoe who took the ball into the box before scoring with a well placed shot from a narrow angle.

Both teams rang the changes. Tottenham went into a defensive formation, United brought on Saha, Nani and Pasqual for Villa, Scholes and Evra and went to an ultra attacking formation.

For the last 15 mins United threw everything they could at Tottenham, but the Spurs defence was rock solid and United neverly really had a serious opportunity to equalise.

Tottenham Captain Ledley King was named Man of the Match for his fine defensive effort.

Totenham have conceeded only 2 goals in the first 5 games, and this a big reason why they now lie third on the table, one point behind United who slipped to second, one point behind leaders Aston Villa. Defending champs chelsea are in 4th, one point behind Tottenham but have a game in hand.

West Ham move off the bottom of the table with a home win over charlton. Middlesbrough take over the bottom slot with 1 point from 4 games.

Other Premiership results:

Man City 0 - 2 chelsea
Blackburn 0 - 1 Portsmouth
Fulham 1 - 1 Wigan
Liverpool 3 - 2 Newcastle
West Ham 2 - 1 Charlton

bedfordfitness

18th September

English Premier Division Team of the Week

Schwarzer, Middlesbrough
Geremi,Chelsea
Arca, Middlesbrough
Terry, Chelsea
Woodgate, Middlebrough
Ronaldo, Man Utd
Boa Morte, West Ham
Ballack, Chelsea
Husin, Watford
Smith, Watford
Tevez, West Ham

PMR
Disappointing loss to Spurs, but they played excetionally well defensively and made the most of their few chances. It was a good free flowing game and the result could have gone either way.

Ratinho is back for Saturdays home game against Fulham. He'll debut while Garry Neville takes a break. Guardado is back to full training but Saha got a back strain lifting weights and hes out for up to 4 weeks.

Middlebrough just beat Aston Villa tonite at Villa Park, so we can retake the lead in the Premiership with a win on Saturday

Team for Fulham

Van der Sar
Ratinho,Ferdinand,Davies,Pasqual
Guadado,Hargreaves,Ronaldo
Van der Vaart
Johnson,Villa

Reserves:
Kuszczak,Neville,Evra,Nani,Rooney

bedfordfitness

23rd September 2006

Manchester United 3 - 0 Fulham

Eddie Johnson(24)
Cristian Ronaldo(61)
David Villa(71)

Classy Johnson on form for Man Utd

A comfortable win for Manchester United saw Eddie Johnson named man of the match after Man Utd's 3-0 English Premier Division victory over Fulham this afternoon.

The 22 yr old Man Utd striker got himself on the scoresheet and could perhaps have added another had it not been for the assistant referee's flag.

In front of a home croud of 73,000 Man Utd started brightly against a Fulham side in a very defensive formation. The first 20 mins were played almost entirely in Fulham's half.

In the 21st minute a goalmouth scramble resulted in a losse ball which Johnson put away calmly to open the scoring.

United continued the rest of the half with complete dominance and it was only the fine play of keeper Niemi that prevented further scoring. Uniteds Van der Vaart went close on 3 occaisions from free kicks on the edge of the area. Johnson also went close on 3 occassions but the Fulham was up to the task.

United boss Robinson advised the team at the break he had faith in them to get the victory.

It was more of the same in the 2nd half, with United constantly pressuring the fulham defence, but it wasnt until the 61st minute that United scored again. Guardado ran deep on the left before crossing in the direction of the far post, Niemi got his fingertips to the ball but the ball fell straight to Ronaldo who had an easy tap in.

In the 71st minute Voltz was carded for a clumsy challenge on Johnson on the edge of the area. Van der Vaart took the free kick quickly and passed laterally right to Villa who used his skill to go past Diop and fire home from 20 yds. Fantastic goal.

Robinson then pulled Villa and Guardado off,(Villa got a standing ovation) and sent Rooney and Nani on with instructions to go for the jugular on all out attack, but play became a little too unstructured and there was no addition to the score.

bedfordfitness

24th September 2006

Keane hails Johnson

Former Man Utd favourite Roy Keane has heaped praise on Eddie Johnson after his inspired performance in United's 3-0 win over Fulham.

The 22yr-old striker caught the eye of Keane and he commented that United had a real gem of a player.

United Manager Peter Robinson also praised Johnson after the game.

Premiership results

Arsenal 4 - 0 West Ham
Charlton 3 - 0 Blackburn
Chelsea 4 - 0 Sheff Utd
Everton 0 - 0 Man City
Newcastle 0 - 1 Bolton
Wigan 0 - 2 Liverpool
Watford 1 - 2 Middlesbrough
Portsmouth 3 - 0 Reading

Man Utd regain the lead in the table with 15 points, 2 ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa with Tottenham a further 2 points back, but all 3 clubs have a game in hand. Fulham sit bottom of the table with just 2 points from 6 games.

David Villa and Thierry Henry both have 7 Premiership goals. Eddie Johnson is 3rd with 5 goals.

25th September

Team of the Week

Van der Sar, Man Utd
Geremi,Chelsea
Hreioarsson, Charlton
Toure, Arsenal
Gallas, Arsenal
Rommedahl, Charlton
Fortune, Bolton
Oneil, Portsmouth
Husin, Watford
Henry, Arsenal
Adebayor, Arsenal

Aston Villa 0 - 0 Tottenham

bedfordfitness

25th September 2006

Thats was a good display after the disappointment of last week. Fulham never really challenged and played like they just wanted to keep the score down. They only had one shot on target all day. We probably should have scored more but I'll take 3-0 any day. Next up is ECC game against Steaua at home on Tuesday and then a big Prem game against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

bedfordfitness

Champions Cup Group F

Manchester United 5 - 0 Steaua

Pasqual (1)
Van der Vaart (3,24,28)
Wayne Rooney (11)

Smashed them! Pasqual fired home from the edge of the area in the very first minute, VDV scored another 2 mins later and had his hattrick within half an hour. Rooney got a nice goal too.

They looked like they didnt want to be there, but they stiffened up a bit after that and the lads got a bit messy all queueing up and teeing off. We wont want to play like that against Liverpool.

bedfordfitness

1 October

September Premiership Awards

Player of the Month
1) David Villa, Man Utd
2) Eddie Johnson, Man Utd
3) Hermann Hreiodarsson, Charlton

Young Player of the Month
1) Cristain Ronaldo, Man Utd
2) Obafemi Martins, Newcastle
3) Daniel Agger, Liverpool

Manager of the Month
1) Rafa Benitez, Liverpool
2) Alan Pardew, Charlton
3) Martin O'Neil, Aston Villa

bedfordfitness

1 October 2006

Liverpool 1 - 2 Manchester United

Crouch (84) - Van der Vaart (36), Villa (pen 79)

Tight contest in the bog at Anfield. They had the better of the first 30 mins and Van der Sar was called upon several times. We slowly got into the game and after 36 mins Johnson knocked down a cross ball from Evra, to VDV who got free and slotted a left footer home.

A real tussle in the 2nd half with play flowing up and down the pitch despite the conditions. With 11 mins left Guardado went to the byline and crossed low to the near post, but Mascherano tripped Villa before he could get there. Villa converted the penalty to make it 2-0.

Pulled everyone back and Liverpool threw everyone forward, and they scored almost immediately when Crouch got through and slotted home. We had a few more anxious moments but got there in the end.

Van der Vaart was named Man of the Match for the 2nd time in a row. Hes really found his feet now and keeping Scholes out of the side. Even the Liverpool Manager raved about his play.

Guardado hurt his foot in the game but wanted to play on(and I let him), and now hes out for 3 weeks.

After the weekend we were still atop of the table, but Chelsea had moved into 2nd only 2 points adrift and a game in hand.Arsenal smashed Bolton 4-0 away, and moved into 5th spot and they have a game in hand as well.

bedfordfitness

14th October 2006

Manchester United 5 - 0 Wigan

Villa(4), Vidic (17), Van der Vaart (22), Hargreaves (33), Johnson (71)

Another easy home win. Villa got us on the board early on when Johnson's shot was blocked straight into Villa's path and he slotted it away. Vidic added the 2nd with a vicious shot from outside the area from a corner.

Van der Vaart got his 5th goal in 3 games when he tucked away a deflected Johnson shot in the 22nd minute then 11 mins later Hargreaves power home a 25 yder.

Wigan had a couple of chances when we over extended on attack but Camara blew them both.

Wigam played with a bit more passion in the 2nd half but we didnt let back into the game and the final nail came when Vidic crossed to Johnson and he headed home from 20 yds with the keeper badly out of position.

In other games, Chelsea beat Blackburn 1-0 to retain 2nd spot and Arsenal smacked Reading 5-0 to move into third. West Ham, Newcastle and Fulham bring up the rear on 4 points, Fulham winless after 8 games.