bedfordfitness

17th October 2006

Champions Cup Group F

Slovan Liberec 0 - 1 Manchester United

Eddie Johnson (82)

That was an ugly win. We ran them ragged and created loads of scoring opportunites but squandered all but one.

Eddie Johnson got the winner eight minutes from time, heading home at the near post from a corner. He was judged Man of the Match but I think even he would admit he didnt play as well as he can. He has 11 scoring opportunities and only 4 got close. Rooney had a shocker as did Neville and Evra. Still, a win is a win.

bedfordfitness

21st October 2006

Newcastle United boss Glenn Roeder has voiced his doubts over Manchester United's chances of putting a strong challenge for the Premiership Divison title this season

Roeder claimed that Man Uts werent unbeatable and he gave his Newcastle side every chance of being able to pull off a win at Old Trafford.

22nd October 2006

Manchester United 3 - 0 Newcastle United

Villa (64), Ronaldo (78), Johnson (87)
Hargreaves sent off (63)

An amazing win. Not because we beat Newcastle 3-0, but the way the players responded to difficult circumstances when we were down to 10 men.

We were all over them in the first half but just like the ECC game we failed to finish. At the break I gave them a right serve. That sparked them up, possible too much though. We again created numerous scoring opportunities but Newcastle's defence held firm. Then in the 63rd minute thay broke out and Hargreaves chopped N'Zogbia down just short of the area and was sent from the field.

The resulting free kick was fired over the goal. Van der Sar's restart went deep downfield, where Johnson won the ball, flicked to Villa who raced away to score. 15 minutes later we were in again. Van der Vaart crossed from a free kick into the 6yd box and Ronaldo headed home. 3 mins from time another Van der Vaart free kick cross was headed home by Johnson.

We played the last 25 minutes with only 10 men, totally dominated them and scored 3 goals. The fact that the win relegated Toon to bottom of the table was an added bonus, particularly after Roeder's prematch comments.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea lost ground. Chelsea going down at Reading 1-0, and Arsenal held to a scoreless draw at Middlesbrough. Portsmouth moved into 2nd place 4 points behind us with Arsenal and Chelsea (game in hand) another point back. Apart from Hargreaves dismissal, a very satisfying weekend.

bedfordfitness

25th October 2006

League Cup 3rd Rnd

Preston 0 - 3 Manchester United

Ronney (3), Carrick (21) Saha (40)

Mixture of first squad and reserves team players went to Preston. Rooney opened the scoring with a great individual effort in just the 3rd minute, Carrick boomed in a 25 yrder after 21 mins and Saha in his first game back from injury also got on the board. Game degenerated a bit in the 2nd half

bedfordfitness

28th October 2006

Aston Villa 0 - 1 Manchester United

Johnson (11)

We started well, and had them under all sorts of pressure early on. From a corner, Ratinho delivered to the near post and Johnson put it away to give us the early lead. The game was pretty free flowing and both sides created several half chances but there was no addition to the score by the break. While we had the lead and a slight accendency in play I rarked them up as I knew Villa would come out firing.

They did but they were too overeager and commited alot of fouls and that broke up their flow. We defended well and while both teams had several chances we held on for the win.

Eddie Johnson picked up his 5th Man of the Match award in 10 league games.

This win keeps us atop of the league on 27 points after 10 games.

Elsewhere, Chelsea and Arsenal both recorded 2-0 home wins to leave them 2nd and 3rd respectively on the table, both on 22 points, Chelsea still with a game in hand. Fulham got their first win of the season after 10 attempts.

bedfordfitness

1st November 2006

Champions Cup Group F

Manchester United 4 - 0 Sloven Liberec

Rooney (49,60,85)
Postulka own goal (72)

The first half was a carbon copy of our previous game against Liberec. Total domination but no finishing and the half finished scoreless, although we did have 2 goals ruled out for offside. Rooney got a blast and the rest told to settle down.

2nd half started much better, and Rooney scored 3 mins after the break from a left wing cross from Freddy Adu, a lad we picked up just before the August transfer deadline, who has been performing well in the reserves. Then he scored another in the 60th with a powerful shot from outside the area. they scored an own goal after Rooney looked likely to score again and the defender panicked. 6 mins from time, Rooney had his hattrick after a goalmouth scramble.

Needless to say Rooney got Man of the Match and we qualified for the 1st knockout round.

bedfordfitness

4th November 2006

Manchester United 4 - 0 Watford

Villa (15,57)
Johnson (21)
Van der Vaart (45)

Villa opened the scoring in the 15th minute afetr Johnson knocked down a cross to Villa and he evaded his marker and raced away to score.

5 mins later Ratinho crossed to Johnson and he powered a header home from near the edge of the area. Right on halftime Guardado crossed into the box and Van ver Vaart buried it to make it 3-0

In the 2nd half Villa added the 4th after a counter attack which saw him clear of the defence and he easily slipped the keeper to score. We went close several more times but there was no addition to the score.

Villa was awarded Man of the Match honours

Chelsea lost 1-2 away Tottenham to drop to 3rd, but Arsenal beat Fulham 2-0 to move into second.

bedfordfitness

8th November 2006

League Cup 4th Round

Blackpool 0 - 5 Manchester United

Saha (21,32,35,36)
Scholes (pen 45)

The Saha Show
Blackpool began all fired up, but were reduced to 10 men when Hargreaves was chopped down on the edge of the area. In the 21st minute Hargreaves took a quick free kick and Saha headed home to open the scoring. Saha got a 2nd after 32 mins when Adu crossed into the box and Saha volleyed home. 2 mins later he had his hattrick when he head home a perfect Adu corner cross at the near post.2 mins later he added another when Rooney broke free but had his shot blocked, and Saha followed up and buried it.
Scholes added a penalty right on half time when Saha was brought down in the area.

Blackpool actually defended very well in the 2nd half and we didnt add to our tally. Saha won Man of the Match but I was also very impressed with Adu.

bedfordfitness

11th November 2006

Portsmouth 0 - Manchester United 2

Evra (32)
Villa (75)

First half an hour of the game saw neither team have a serious scoring opportunity.Then Van der Vaart shot from the edge of the area, the keeper parried it but Evra slammed it home for his first goal of the season.

A few minutes later Villa got clear but the defence recovered in time. Portsmouth had a golden opportunity to equalize but the striker fired a real howler over the bar from short range.

In the second half we went close on a number of occasions for no result. Then after a period of sustained pressure from Portsmouth we broke away on counter attack, Ronaldo sent along through ball to Villa who was free of the defence, and he curled a shot inside the left post.

For the last 15 mins Portsmouth piled men forward but the defence held firm.

Chelsea beat Fulham 3-0, but Arsenal went down 0-1 to Liverpool at home.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Man Utd | | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 5 | +32 | 33 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Arsenal | | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 30 | 11 | +19 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Chelsea | | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 5 | +15 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Tottenham | | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 22 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Aston Villa | | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 12 | +8 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Portsmouth | | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 12 | +6 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Liverpool | | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 13 | +5 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Everton | | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 14 | +2 | 17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Man City | | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 16 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Charlton | | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Wigan | | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 20 | -5 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Reading | | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 21 | -13 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Bolton | | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 12 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Sheff Utd | | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 18 | -8 | 12 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Blackburn | | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 20 | -10 | 12 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Watford | | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 25 | -11 | 11 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Middlesbrough | | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 10 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Newcastle | | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 19 | -10 | 9 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | West Ham | | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 22 | -14 | 9 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Fulham | | 12 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 19 | -11 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

bedfordfitness

18th November 2006

Manchester 4 - 0 Charlton

Johnson (4)
Villa (18,56,66)

In the 3rd minute Ratinho crossed from wide out and Johnson powered home a header to open the scoring. Then in the 17th minute Pasqual did the same for Villa and we were up 2-0.

In the second half Van der Vaart sent a long through ball to Villa on counter attack and Villa rounded the keeper and scored. A few minutes later he had his hattrick when a Charlton defender lost control of the ball in the box and Villa pounced and scored.

Charlton were simply overwhelmed, they only had one shot on goal to our 27.

Elsewhere Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 to move into 4th and drop Chelsea to 3rd after Arsenal won away at Wigan 3-0.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Man Utd | | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 41 | 5 | +36 | 36 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Arsenal | | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 33 | 11 | +22 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Chelsea | | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 6 | +14 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Liverpool | | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 24 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Tottenham | | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 12 | +4 | 22 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

bedfordfitness

Meh, corrupt file. Should have backed it up.