Manchester United Online

Mike Phelan has been appointed as Sir Alex Ferguson’s new assistant boss.

Phelan, a former player at the club, rosed through the ranks of the backroom staff.  He has been the first team coach since 2001.

Glad to see your promotion Phelan!

Manucho, the Angolan striker who joined United last season, finally got his permit to play for the team.

His inclusion to the squad means Fergie has now got four strikers in the team.  However, Manucho is currently injured but should be available in a few weeks.

Another triple season?

Louis Saha joined Everton while Mikael Silvestre joined Arsenal.

Saha has been a prolific scorer when he is fit, a forward who can give you 20 goals per season.  It is a pity to see him go, but with Berbatov joining United, and Manucho getting his work permit, it can be said Saha is a surplus to requirements this season.

Silvestre, often criticized for his lack of concentration, has played reasonably well during his time at United. Despite his critics, he is one of the better left backs seen since Dennis Irwin’s departure.

Good luck Saha, and good luck Silvestre.  Thank you for your contributions to Manchester United.

Apparently, according to David Gill, Frazier Campbell is NOT FOR SALE despite joining Totttenham Hotspurs on loan.  Campbell is very highly regarded by Alex Ferguson, it was reported.

Manchester United finally signed Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspurs in a deal worth slightly over £30million, with Frazier Campbell signing for Spurs in a one-year loan deal.

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted to have finally landed the striker after almost 2 years of trying.

Berbatov should be given the shirt number 9, vacated by Louis Saha, who has joined Everton for an undisclosed fees.

The biggest shock of the transfer news belongs to Manchester City though, who signed Robinho from Real Madrid, beating off Chelsea’s attempts to sign the forward all summer. So much for professing your love for Chelsea,  Mr $ Robinho.

Welcome to the family Berbatov, hopefully you will lighten Rooney’s and Tevez’s workload and everyone can and will play more efficiently.  Will love to see the attack comprising Berbatov, Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo. Wondering what kind of damage they can do to the opposition.

Match Date: August 29 2008 - UEFA Super Cup

Zenit St Petersburg practically run rings around Manchester United’s defense. United thoroughly deserve to lose. They never got off gear 2 or 3 and one feels the players are in a practice match.

Perhaps given the current injuries jinx the Red Devils are suffering from, Sir Alex Ferguson may have told his players to play easy.

Carlos Tevez was again the player who played like there is no tomorrow. However, his efforts are insufficient as the midfield generals are sorely missed, and the lack of firepower are apparent.

In the end, Pavel Pogrebynak opened the scoring just before the break to give Zenit a one goal half time lead. In the second half, new recruit for Zenit, Portuguese ace Danny, repaid part of the £24million spent to sign him with a goal on the 59th minute.

Manchester United once again relied on a non-striker to score their goal when Nemanja Vidic pulled a goal back on 73th minute. To top off the bad fortune, Paul Scholes got himself sent off again.

All in all, Zenit St Petersburg deserve the Super Cup and pre-match talk by Ferguson on wanting to win the cup badly are obviously not shown on the pitch.

It would be interesting to see what Zenit can do in this season’s UEFA Champions League.

Full Time: Manchester United 1 - 2 Zenit St Petersburg

Scorer: Nemanja Vidic (Man U) / Pavel Pogrebynak, Danny (Zenit St Petersburg)

Next Up: Liverpool (English Premier League)

Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year prize as well as being named Best Forward.

The rest of the prizes goes to Chelsea players Petr Čech (Best Goalkeeper), John Terry (Best Defender), Frank Lampard (Best Midfielder).

While kudos has to be given to Lampard’s win, Terry and Čech hasn’t been playing as well as they had the season before, how they managed to beat Van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand/Nemanja Vidic is quite unbelievable.

Congrats to Ronaldo!

Match Date: August 25 2008 - English Premier League

Manchester United finally got their first win of the season when they beat Portsmouth, ending their Fratton Park jinx.

Several first time members of United are missing due to injuries or suspension, players like Giggs, Carrick, Hargreaves, Park, Nani, not to mention long term injury victims like Saha and Ronaldo all missed the action, but United still manage to control the game quite comfortably.

The game also saw the return of Tevez from compassionate leave, and Anderson from the Beijing Olympics.

It took Darren Fletcher’s second goal (deflected) in as many games to settle the game. Although United controlled the game, the lack of an out-and-out striker showed.

Hopefully United can get a striker before the close of the transfer window.

Full Time: Portsmouth 0 - 1 Manchester United

Scorer: Darren Fletcher (Man U)

Next Up: Zenit St Petersburg for the European Super Cup

Congrats in store for the following United players who has been shortlisted for the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year awards:

Edwin van der Sar - Best Goalkeeper
Rio Ferdinand - Best Defender
Nemanja Vidic - Best Defender
Paul Scholes - Best Midfielder
Wayne Rooney - Best Forward
Cristiano Ronaldo - Best Forward

The winners will be announced at the draw for this season’s group stage on Thursday 28 August.

More honours in store for the Man U stars?

Dimitar Berbatov was pictured signing a a Manchester United shirt as he was at Sofia Airport, leaving for Bulgaria’s friendly game in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He scored twice in the game which Bulgaria won 2-1.

Berbatov, who according to some press, handed in a transfer request on last Saturday, hoping to push through his desire to sign for Manchester United.

Jimmy Greaves was quoted as saying Berbatov is “cheeky” signing a United shirt. Berbatov, 27, is definitely going to incur the wrath of Spurs fans, who has been getting tired of the Spurs player, and just last season was hugely-popular with them.

According to reports, Spurs and United are expected to reach an agreement by this week. We shall see.

Match Date: August 17 2008 - English Premier League

Manchester United started off the 2008-09 season with a home draw against Newcastle United.  Missing many of the first team players, Manchester United displayed glimpses of their championship winning form early in the first half.  The goalkeeper of Newcastle United kept the team in the game.

Obafemi Martins, not exactly the tallest man on the field,  scored with a header in the first half, with the two central defenders of Man U, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic nowhere near him.  Darren Fletcher replied less than two minutes to level the game which stood at the scoreline till the end.

With Carlos Tevez given time off to visit his family back at Argentina due to a close family member’s death, and Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs both got injured during the game, Sir Alex Ferguson are facing more selection headaches for the forthcoming games.

Frazier Campbell show flashes of brilliance, and given time, this kid can develop into a very good player.  Wayne Rooney was his usual hardworking self.  The rest of the team seems normal at best.

In actual fact, Man U were lucky to escape defeat, given Newcastle’s dominance in the second half. If the opponent had been Chelsea, Arsenal or even Liverpool, Man U may have suffered a defeat instead of gaining a draw.

With all the other big three teams winning (and Chelsea really showing its class at Portsmouth), Man U is trailing early season.

It is still early in the season, and like Alex Ferguson said, we still have 37 more games to go.  Let’s hope we improve for our next game.

Full Time: Manchester United 1 - 1 Newcastle

Scorer: Obafemi Martins (Newcastle), Darren Fletcher (Man U)