Red News - 18 april
I "Red News" ger vi er senaste nytt ifrån klubben.
Tung förlust mot City
Manchester United & Manchester City drabbade samman i lördags, på Wembley i London. United stod för en blek insats och kunde inte riktigt kontrollera matchen. Istället gjorde Yaya Toure 1-0 i inledningen av den andra halvleken, matchens enda mål och nu förblir drömmen om en trippel endast en dröm. Inte i år...
Kommentarer efter matchen:
Sir Alex: "It's a major game on Tuesday up at Newcastle. It doesn't matter when you play, you know you've got to recover and get on a winning streak again.
The first 15 minutes after half-time cost us the game. Slack moments. Edwin (van der Sar) had a bad kick out and Michael Carrick couldn't hold it and it was a goal. From then on, they were defending apart from a couple of counter-attacks. It's disappointing as we should've been ahead in the first half as we were the better team.
The chance that Dimitar (Berbatov) missed - there was a great save by the keeper but the second chance, from under the bar, if he'd have scored there, I had a feeling whoever scored first would win the match.
We were a wee bit sloppy and it got them on the counter-attack against us. I think the pitch was slow. t's a good pitch but very slow, we like quick pitches and it maybe suited City a bit more than us.
Paul has had unbelievable moments and is a great player, one of the greatest ever at this club, but he has these red mist moments and this was another one. He's a bit unfortunate maybe as he went for for the ball and it bounced up and he's gone through and caught the boy on the thigh."
Vidic: “We must forget the City game now and concentrate on winning the title. It will not be easy but we have to perform, play good football and try to win the league.We had two or three chances in the first half but didn’t score the goal. All they had were shots from distance but their goal has cost us the final.
We didn’t play as we should have in the second half. It was more open, they played a bit higher up the pitch and scored a goal.
We had a few good situations from the right side which I think we should have done something with but we didn’t. We talked a lot about concentration, but today we didn’t concentrate enough.”
van der Sar: "We started a bit slow but had two chances in quick succession .If one of those goes in, maybe it's a different game and they would have to chase us.
In the second half, when they scored, we went to 10 men and it was hard to chase and try to get the equaliser. We had some half-chances or possibilities to get the ball into the box but nothing really materialised. We were hoping for that famous injury-time goal again but I think our luck ran out a little bit.
It's always nicer when you score first but that didn't happen and the goal we conceded was a bit scrappy. It's not the way we normally defend so we have to do something to take the blame - all the players who have been on the pitch. Nobody really performed to their standard I think. So we need to make sure we do better on Tuesday.
It's normal (to get tired), of course City tried to be organised and strong. They put Shaun Wright-Phillips on near the end for more pace up front. We had a go in the last 20 minutes but just maybe we were a bit tired also in the end. We have played quite a big amount of games in the last three or four weeks. It's easier to defend something than to make a goal.
It depends on the result of course (if it’s useful to have a match coming so quickly). We have got two days to recover from this game. Tuesday is an important one.
First we have to watch our friends from up north playing against Arsenal and let's hope they make it a nice game!
As a player, we don't really think about that (the Double). We know which games are coming and we're going to focus on them and hopefully we manage to get the other two (trophies)."
Edwin talar ut
Van der Sar gör sina sista matcher i den röda tröjan. Snart är karriären över, och så här säger holländaren själv om säsongen som gått:
"We had been a bit scrappy in the first half of the season. We conceded some last-minute goals. It doesn't do your self-confidence a lot of good. Of course, you need mental strength in certain games when you keep conceding in the last minute or the ball is not going in. It can do something with you.
It shows the strength of character and the belief this manager has in the quality of this team. You get confidence when you get on a roll. You are not struggling and you get your players back. There are goals in the team and, defensively, you are sound. It is a good feeling. The manager has a certain way he wants to play and there are certain players he would choose when he selects his team.
When Rio or Valencia or Park comes back from injury, it gives you a great feeling. You know you are a strong line-up. The ones who came in did brilliantly, but the experience Rio can bring, together with Vida (Nemanja Vidic), is very important. It is a strong intent of our qualities.
I enjoy playing with them very much. It is great to have two quality defenders in front of you. It makes my job a little bit easier, also with the directions I give to them and the way the team is balanced out.
If somebody goes forward, Michael Carrick knows he has to stay back. If Patrice (Evra) goes away, John O'Shea knows he has to stay. It is a great understanding that we have at the moment."
”Sir Alex är orolig inför mötet med Newcastle på St James’ Park”
På tisdag kväll tar Newcastle emot ligaledarna på St James’ Park, i en match som säkerligen lär bli tuff för de röda. Magpies (Newcastles) tränare Alan Pardew tror att Sir Alex är orolig inför matchen imorgon (tisdag).
"It is a fixture I genuinely believe Sir Alex will be very wary of. Maybe not so much because he fears us as a team, but because he fears the ground and the reaction it can inspire the team to. For example, the Arsenal game, we were 4-0 down and our first goal goes in and suddenly you felt the crowd erupt and impact on the game. That is what he will fear perhaps more than the team, but I honestly believe he will genuinely fear this game.”
4 spelare med i “Team of the Year”
4 Manchester United spelare kom med i PFA Team of the Year. Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, Nani & Dimitar Berbatov är spelarna som med all rätt kom med i elvan.
Så här ser laget ut: van der Sar, Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Nemanja Vidic, Ashley Cole, Nani, Samir Nasri, Jack Wilshere, Gareth Bale, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov.
Noterbart är också att Gareth Bale (Spurs) tog hem priset som Premier Leagues bästa spelare säsongen 2010/11. Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) tog hem priset som bästa unga spelare säsongen 2010/11.
Skador & avstängningar
Paul Scholes blev utvisad i derbyt i lördags, därmed missar han morgondagens match mot Newcastle samt matcherna mot Everton (hemma) & Arsenal (borta).
Rafael förväntas vara spelklar mot Newcastle, men han lär nog inte gå in i startelvan.
Anders Lindegaard är snart helt återställd och ska finnas tillgänglig mot Everton på lördag.
Darren Fletcher är fortsatt sjuk och enligt ”Physioroom” ska han vara tillbaka den 1 maj.
Owen Hargreaves missar resten av säsongen.
Ska även noteras att Jonny Evans åter finns tillgänglig efter utvisningen mot Bolton som innebar 3 matchers avstängning.
Övrigt
Uniteds U-18 åkte på stryk mot Liverpools dito. Slutresultat skrevs till 6-0.
Arsenal fick bara 1-1 med sig mot Liverpool hemma på Emirates Stadium. Två straffar på tilläggstid var den stora snackisen i en chansfattig match. Nu har Arsenal 6 poäng upp till Manchester United, och frågan är om inte titelstriden är avgjord nu. Chelsea vann borta på The Hawthorns och ser nu ut att kunna hota Arsenals andraplats.
