Manchester United vs. Chelsea 5-4 Upsetting Loss

Chelsea hosted Manchester United on Wednesday night in the fourth round of England's Capital One Cup.

Although Manchester had a 3-2 win over Chelsea on Sunday’s game, today’s game ended in favor of Chelsea. Chelsea will move on to the quarter-finals.

As expected both teams made significant changes to the starting line-up for Wednesday’s game.  Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo started Cesar Azpilicueta, Oriol Romeu, Victor Moses, Lucas Piazon and Daniel Sturridge while Manchester had Rafael as the only player to remain in the starting lineup from Sunday’s game. 10 changes were made to their teams starting squad including an inexperienced defense.

Manchester United victory over Stoke City at Old Trafford

Manchester United received Stoke City at Old Trafford on Saturday for what seemed to be a one-sided 4-2 victory.

The victory places the Red Devils just three points behind Chelsea in overall standings.

Manchester’s starting lineup consisted of De Gea in goal; Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Scholes, Carrick; Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck and Van Persie.

As for Stoke City, the Starting XI consisted of Begovic; Cameron, Shawcross, Huth, Wilson; Walters, Whitehead, Nzonzi, Adam, Kightly, and Crouch.

United sits in front of Group H with three points after a 2-1 victory over CFR Cluj

After Saturday's shocking defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, Sir Alex Ferguson grew tired of giving up early goals and decided to change up his tactics against Cluj.  The United manager decided to use his two main strikers, Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie, to get some positive response early in the game.

United's starting line consisted of a 4-3-1-2 formation with De Gea in goal, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Anderson, Fletcher, Cleverley; Rooney, Van Persie, and Hernandez.  Substitutes were Lindegaard, Büttner, Wootton, Nani, Powell, Kagawa, Welbeck.

Although United had a strong squad on pitch, Cluj struck first.  In the 14th minute of play, Modou Sougou set up Pantelis Kapetanos for the opening goal with a low cross, beating Evra down the win, giving the hosts the lead.

Manchester's Red Devils win 3-2 over Southampton's Saints

Manchester United faced Southampton this past Sunday at St. Mary's Stadium and took the win with a 3-2 score.  This was Southampton's second time in three matches having a 2-1 lead over United and failing to hold it till the end.  This was quite a challenge match for United as they were down by one in both halves.  United came in with a formation of 4-3-2-1.  Defense was comprised of De Gea, Evra, Vidic, Evans, and Da Silva, Cleverley and Carrick made up the defensive midfield.  Nani, Kagawa, and Valencia made up the attacking midfield, and Van Persie took lead as striker.

Sir Alex Ferguson, The "it" manager, 1000th game with Manchester United

If it was not enough that Manchester United defeated Southampton 3-2 after a poor game on Sundays match, Sir Alex Ferguson also had the honor of celebrating his 1000th game in charge of the Red Devils with a win.

Alex Ferguson started his career as Manchester United Manager on November 7 1986. One would think that as frequent as managers come and go that Ferguson would have not lasted till this day but Ferguson took a club that was unable to win a league title for 26 years to always finishing as one of the top teams every season. "He has established himself as the most successful British manager of all-time."

Manchester United 2-0 Swansea City

In the eight previous matches at Old Trafford, United has claimed victory over the Welsh side, but this time Swansea was determined to reverse the previous outcomes.  The last victory from Swansea against the Red devils at Old Trafford was in May 1983. This match really was a challenge accepted by the Welsh side since the last match at Liberty Stadium was also in favor of United with one seldom goal by Javier Hernandez (El Chicharito). Unfortunately for Swansea their hope was bigger than their win.

Manchester United Stands Alone at Top

It seems to be that this season Manchester United has continuously battled to stay at the top of the chart in the Premier League. After Monday’s game against Fulham, United obtained three valuable points taking them back to the number one spot.

United is now (23-3-4) and is trying to break its own record of 20 Premier League titles. The team has 8 games left and is currently Number 1 with 73 points. Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic believes his teammates must maintain their focus even though he views them as favorites to obtain another Premier League title.

ManUtd Knocks Spurs out of the Race for the Premier League Title

After Sunday’s victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane in London, Manchester United continue their Premier League title push under great pressure.

The victory put the defending champion’s two points behind leader Manchester City and 11 points ahead of third-place Tottenham.

The Hotspurs were down several players due to injury, but they knew that with or without those keys players such as Scott Parker, Rafael van der Vaart, and Gareth Bale it would still be a difficult task to beat second-place Manchester United.

United Steal Victory at White Hart Lane

The Red Devils took on Tottenham Hotspur this past Sunday at Whitehart Lane, earning an important three points toward their Premiere League endeavor. The injury plagued Hotspurs, who have surprised the football world and held down third place in the EPL, controlled much of the ball and kept steady pressure on United defense.

A Slew of Statements: Suarez and Dalglish Apologize

Saturday's fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United began on a disappointing note, with the drama between Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Man United defender Patrice Evra escalating after Suarez snubbed Evra during the traditional pre-match handshakes, though both players had seemingly agreed with their respective managers to clear the air and move on. An additional clash in the tunnel at half-time only added fuel to the fire.

If the incidences during the match weren't enough, the resulting comments from key figures at both clubs certainly sent PR into a frenzy.

Oh, There Was A Match On?: Manchester United Defeat Liverpool

Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool
Rooney (47’, 50’), Suarez (80’)

If the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United is usually enough to ensure an interesting match-up, the teams’ previous Premier League clash, in which Liverpool’s Luis Suarez received his eight-match ban for a racial slur against United’s Patrice Evra, solidified the prospect as Liverpool looked to leave Old Trafford with a result similar to their FA Cup victory over United weeks earlier at Anfield.

With Suarez back in Liverpool’s line-up, many were assuming we could all simply look around awkwardly during the pre-match handshakes and move on to what is usually an excellent display of football.

We should never assume anything. Ever. Lesson learned.

Bad blood boiled between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra in several displays that overshadowed the match.

Luis Suarez brought the drama even before kick-off, refusing to shake Patrice Evra’s hand. Just in case the pot needed stirring.

Manchester United Come Back 3-3 Against Chelsea

If you know soccer, then you must know how hard it is to get back in the game after a 3-0 deficit.  This was the case for Manchester United as they faced Chelsea on Sunday. 

United has not been able to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since April 20, 2002.  It seemed like this time it wouldn't be any different. The Reds seemed to be heading for a heavy defeat after the 50th minute when the third Chelsea goal was scored.

 In the first half the lead was given to Chelsea after Daniel Sturridge crossed a ball which hit United's Jonny Evans in the 36th minute, causing an own-goal.  In the second half on the 46th minute of play Juan Mata scored on a one-timer volley from a cross. Four minutes later, David Luiz scored a header assisted by Rio Ferdinand's free kick.  By this time Chelsea felt they had victory secured.

Manchester United and Manchester City Lead PL

Manchester United 2-0 Stoke city (Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov, and Ben Amos)

 

Manchester United has finally erased Manchester City’s three-point lead in the Premiere League after Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Stoke city.  The two goals were penalties scored by Javier Hernandez (El Chicharito) and Dimitar Berbatov.

Although Chicharito is not the regular penalty kicker for the Reds, it was left to him to step up and lead the team since regular penalty-kicker Wayne Rooney was watching from the stands.

Manchester United Signs Frederic Veseli of Manchester City

Manchester United has reported that they have signed 19-year-old defender Frederic Veseli from Manchester City.  The 19-year-old defender is the first player to be signed by the Premier League champions in the January transfer window.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson previously reported that he was not interested in signing any new players to the team but would definitely keep his eyes open for a youngster who has proven his potential.

United's Victory Pays Great Tribute to Ferguson

Saturday’s match was a perfect tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United took home another victory against Sunderland.  The winning goal came in the last minute of the first half when Wes Brown accidentally headed the ball into his own net.  Kieren Westwood blocked Nani's rapacious near-post shot but when Brown jumped to meet Nani in the right-wing corner, the ball slapped him the face resulting in an own-goal.  Ironically enough, Wes Brown used to play for United. 

Sunderland suffered more ill fated destiny as they were awarded a second-half penalty only for officials to revoke the decision they had made.  United sought for a second goal after the break, but Sunderland keeper Westwood rose to the occasion as he impeded the two attempted goals by Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra.  United’s struggling for long periods of time before actually scoring shows how well Steve Bruce's men had played that day. Though Sunderland did not score they unquestionably gave a great performance. 

When the game was over, both teams formed a guard of honor for the 69-year-old Ferguson as he descended from the tunnel and onto the field, greeted by gleeful fans of both United and Sunderland. Sir Alex was also welcomed into the center-circle before chief executive David Gill announced that the North stand had been renamed the Sir Alex Ferguson stand.  This was indeed a great way to celebrate Ferguson’s 25 years of managing for one of the greatest football clubs in the world.

Ferguson Guides ManU to Another Win

 This weekend Sir Ferguson will celebrate 25 years as manager of Manchester United

Manchester United took home another victory as they won the Champion League Group match against Otelul Galati this past Wednesday. Antonio Velencia scored the opening goal of the match within the first eight minutes of the game. An impressive move on his part, but he couldn’t have done it without the assistance of Phil Jones.  

Jones rammed his way through the players, crossing and cutting edges that helped result in the grand pass to Velencia. Wayne Rooney out-shined everyone though, as he displayed great power as midfielder and scored the second goal for his team. Otelul Galati never came close to scoring but still gave it their all. It wasn’t all fun and games out on the field however. Many players were injured including Ashley Youngs, Tom Cleverly, Ryan Giggs, Darron Gibson and Michael Owen. Owen will not be playing this Saturday because of a possible serious thigh injury. Let’s not forget to mention Vidic served a suspension for a red card. Sir Alex will put Rio Ferdinand as his replacement captain. Inclusively, things are starting to look up for United. They could be on a winning streak, but that of course depends on tomorrows Benifica vs Batch match. 

Even if they do lose tomorrow’s game, a celebration will be held this Sunday honoring Sir Alex Ferguson for his excellent 25 years as manager of the team. Vidic states that Ferguson puts trust in his players and gives them confidence to succeed. That’s what ultimately counts. Trusting and believing in the players is what makes Ferguson the best fit for the Manchester United Club.

The Reality of Manchester United

When Manchester United played Manchester City, there was obvious domination from the start.  Manchester City ripped them apart. (sorry but they did). It was like ManU did not know who to mark or they thought the game was over or something but instead of defending, Manchester United kept pressing forward. That was encouraging at 2-1 even 3-1 but how does Manchester Untied, concede 3 goals after the 89 minute!?  That's what baffles me.

  Two years ago (08, 09), Manchester United played Tottenham. They were down 2-0 with 15 or 20 minutes to go and they came back to score 3 goals in ten minutes. A part of me and the announcers said that united always has the capability of having amazing come backs, the difference now is that their attack was far more threatening when they had Cristiano Ronaldo. Hernandez and Rooney are good but it's not Ronaldo and Rooney. So everyone watching including the crowd was waiting for this foretold come back that just never materialized. The attempt at a comeback unraveled quickly with the goals just coming and coming. I wouldn't want to be in the united locker room after that game.

Manchester United - A New Beginning?

 Many Manchester United fans did not know what to expect when viewing last Sunday's match against Everton at Goodison Park. Most did the wise thing by not getting their hopes up too high in fear that this Sunday's game would end up like the last ones humiliating 6-1 score. However, Manchester United surprised fans after Javier " Chicharito" Hernandez scored the first goal during the middle of the 1st half, which ultimately ended being the only goal scored throughout the entire match. Sir Alex Ferguson made the wise decision by putting Rio Ferdinand and Nani on the bench while putting Wayne Rooney into the central midfield.  It was a risk that paid off. Tom Cleverly also made an appearance during the game.  There was no doubt that Nemanja Vidic was the star of the show as he displayed great leadership as captain. United showed resilient and well-organized team effort throughout the game. Everton's boss David Moyes went threw a bit of a rough patch as he lost some important key players due to injury and suspension. Some highlights of the game included an entertaining one-two between Danny Welbeck and Patrice Evra. Leighton Baines came close to scoring during a free-kick but instead hit the bar. Jack Rodwell got himself into good positions on two occasions but he never followed through. Overall, this match was a well deserved and hard-earned victory for United as they got off onto a rocky start. Although in some cases, bad beginnings can prosper into happy endings, who knows if Manchester United has the potential to take home the title. Until then, Manchester United fans will have to stay tuned and keep their bettings at a minimum.

By: Viviana Garcia

Edited: Marcelo Mata