Saturday, 6 October 2012
Chicharitio to Real Madrid?
Javier Hernandez could be Real Madrid bound with United asking for one of Jose Mourinho's players in return. Those forwarded include Sergio Ramos, Raul Albiol, Raphael Varane and Nuri Sahin, who is currently on loan at Liverpool. However, Alicia Johnson's report cites Kaka as the 'dream target'.
Van Persie work paying off
Robin van Persie has made a commanding start to his
Manchester United career, but the striker is still putting in the hard
yards behind the scenes.
Far from resting on his laurels, the Dutchman is working hard at Carrington to make up for missing nearly all of Arsenal’s pre-season campaign before he joined the Reds. And his endeavours have not gone unnoticed.
"The refreshing thing for me is he’s doing extra work in training because he’s not had any pre-season games," said Sir Alex Ferguson at his Friday press conference.
"It’s quite remarkable considering he’s got seven goals in [his last] seven games. I’m pleased with that and I think his fitness will improve even more.
"He’s a good passer of the ball with good vision in his passing, too. The goal he made last week for [Shinji] Kagawa against Tottenham is evidence of his passing ability."
Van Persie hit 37 goals for the Gunners last season and Sir Alex was asked if it was possible the 29-year-old could emulate that tally in his maiden campaign with the Reds.
"I would love that to happen," the boss said. "In my experience, and where we are at the moment, we need two strikers to get over 20 goals. If we get that, we definitely have a chance."
United fans enjoyed the sight of van Persie starting alongside a deep-lying Wayne Rooney for the first time in Tuesday’s Champions League win over CFR Cluj.
Sir Alex explained that he opted for the duo in an intriguing three-pronged forward line that also featured Javier Hernandez to combat Cluj’s threat on the counter-attack.
"For the last couple of years, Wayne has played a lot in behind one striker," he said. "But Cluj are a useful side who rely on the counter-attack, so we tried to avoid that as much as we could.
"In fact, their goal was from a counter-attack, but we tried to force them onto us so we could counter-attack ourselves.
"Chicharito was occupying the main two central defenders so we’d have a wee bit more space for Rooney and van Persie."
Far from resting on his laurels, the Dutchman is working hard at Carrington to make up for missing nearly all of Arsenal’s pre-season campaign before he joined the Reds. And his endeavours have not gone unnoticed.
"The refreshing thing for me is he’s doing extra work in training because he’s not had any pre-season games," said Sir Alex Ferguson at his Friday press conference.
"It’s quite remarkable considering he’s got seven goals in [his last] seven games. I’m pleased with that and I think his fitness will improve even more.
"He’s a good passer of the ball with good vision in his passing, too. The goal he made last week for [Shinji] Kagawa against Tottenham is evidence of his passing ability."
Van Persie hit 37 goals for the Gunners last season and Sir Alex was asked if it was possible the 29-year-old could emulate that tally in his maiden campaign with the Reds.
"I would love that to happen," the boss said. "In my experience, and where we are at the moment, we need two strikers to get over 20 goals. If we get that, we definitely have a chance."
United fans enjoyed the sight of van Persie starting alongside a deep-lying Wayne Rooney for the first time in Tuesday’s Champions League win over CFR Cluj.
Sir Alex explained that he opted for the duo in an intriguing three-pronged forward line that also featured Javier Hernandez to combat Cluj’s threat on the counter-attack.
"For the last couple of years, Wayne has played a lot in behind one striker," he said. "But Cluj are a useful side who rely on the counter-attack, so we tried to avoid that as much as we could.
"In fact, their goal was from a counter-attack, but we tried to force them onto us so we could counter-attack ourselves.
"Chicharito was occupying the main two central defenders so we’d have a wee bit more space for Rooney and van Persie."
Angelo Henriquez Settling In
Manchester United coach Warren Joyce says new signing Angelo Henriquez will soon settle in at Old Trafford.
The Chilean teenager moved to United in August from Universidad in his homeland and after scoring in the Under-21s’ 4-2 victory over Newcastle United he found the going much tougher when he was marked out of the game when United took on Sunderland.
“It’s a long-term project,” Joyce told MUTV. “Angelo is a great lad. He’s come to the country and fitted in well.
“He’s working hard in training but we had three forwards up there [at Sunderland] even if we didn’t play like that in the first half. It wasn’t just one up front – we had three forwards looking for rotations but we didn’t retain the ball long enough to get into positions where we could develop those situations.”
The Chilean teenager moved to United in August from Universidad in his homeland and after scoring in the Under-21s’ 4-2 victory over Newcastle United he found the going much tougher when he was marked out of the game when United took on Sunderland.
“It’s a long-term project,” Joyce told MUTV. “Angelo is a great lad. He’s come to the country and fitted in well.
“He’s working hard in training but we had three forwards up there [at Sunderland] even if we didn’t play like that in the first half. It wasn’t just one up front – we had three forwards looking for rotations but we didn’t retain the ball long enough to get into positions where we could develop those situations.”
Sir Alex May Retain Keeper Rotation
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says he has yet to decide
who to play in goal when his club visit Newcastle United on Sunday
amidst signs he may continue his policy of rotation.
David de Gea had a fine game in goal when United won at Cluj on Tuesday but Anders Lindegaard has played in the last four Premier League games and Sir Alex said the form showed by both his keepers in recent games was symptomatic of the competition for places across the whole of the club.
‘He [De Gea] was excellent,” Sir Alex said on Friday. “He is an outstanding goalkeeper, the young lad; he is getting better all the time.
“I don’t know whether I should play him on Sunday or not but the way we have been doing it in the last few weeks has worked quite well for us.
“Everybody wants to play, goalkeepers are no different, but the way I look at it at the moment is getting the two of them experience will help me in the long term
“Obviously at some stage one of them will take over if he shows a real consistency in top-level performance and he has shown a maturity.
“At the moment neither of them have got that big-game experience. They will get that in time.”
David de Gea had a fine game in goal when United won at Cluj on Tuesday but Anders Lindegaard has played in the last four Premier League games and Sir Alex said the form showed by both his keepers in recent games was symptomatic of the competition for places across the whole of the club.
‘He [De Gea] was excellent,” Sir Alex said on Friday. “He is an outstanding goalkeeper, the young lad; he is getting better all the time.
“I don’t know whether I should play him on Sunday or not but the way we have been doing it in the last few weeks has worked quite well for us.
“Everybody wants to play, goalkeepers are no different, but the way I look at it at the moment is getting the two of them experience will help me in the long term
“Obviously at some stage one of them will take over if he shows a real consistency in top-level performance and he has shown a maturity.
“At the moment neither of them have got that big-game experience. They will get that in time.”
Victor Wanyama To United?
Manchester United are being linked with a January move for Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama with one newspaper report today claiming that Sir Alex Ferguson’s brother Martin has been watching the 21-year-old.
The report isn’t new; United were linked with Wanyama at the beginning of August when it was reported that scouts from Old Trafford had watched Wanyama play in some of Celtic’s pre-season friendlies and in their Champions League qualifier with Finnish side HJK Helsinki.
Martin Ferguson has been detailed to watch Wanyama in Celtic’s Champions League games to assess how well he performs against much tougher opposition than he will meet week-in, week-out in the SPL.
However, Sir Alex is notoriously reticent for splashing the cash during the January transfer window and a summer move is perhaps more likely for the Kenya international. Wanyama – described as being a defensive midfielder in the mould of Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote – joined Celtic in the summer of 2011 in a £900,000 move from Belgian side Beerschot AC and soon became cemented his place in the first-team. He is now valued at around £7million.
The report isn’t new; United were linked with Wanyama at the beginning of August when it was reported that scouts from Old Trafford had watched Wanyama play in some of Celtic’s pre-season friendlies and in their Champions League qualifier with Finnish side HJK Helsinki.
Martin Ferguson has been detailed to watch Wanyama in Celtic’s Champions League games to assess how well he performs against much tougher opposition than he will meet week-in, week-out in the SPL.
However, Sir Alex is notoriously reticent for splashing the cash during the January transfer window and a summer move is perhaps more likely for the Kenya international. Wanyama – described as being a defensive midfielder in the mould of Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote – joined Celtic in the summer of 2011 in a £900,000 move from Belgian side Beerschot AC and soon became cemented his place in the first-team. He is now valued at around £7million.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Kevin Strootman To United?
United links with a January bid for PSV midfielder Kevin Strootman,
after he was apparently given the green light for a move away from
Holland in the New Year. “Strootman has had a good time in Eindhoven,
but he decided that he wants to prove himself in a better league,” his
agent Chiel Dekker told the Dutch media. “If an agreement is able to be
reached with a potentially interested club, PSV will allow Kevin to
leave in January.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)