Now that the opening weekend of the Premier League has kicked off, one thing is absolutely clear. Both Chelsea and Manchester United have a new rival to contend with. It’s an opponent that will be hanging over their heads throughout the entire season, adding pressure at key moments. It’s a new competitor in the Premier League that both top clubs fear. It’s “name” is two words: goal difference.
No longer is it a question of whether Chelsea or Manchester United can win their matches each week. It’s now a question of how many goals they can score against their opponent. Such is the might of both clubs that seemingly the only thing that may separate them at the end of the season is goal difference. Perhaps we soccer fans should change the way we describe how many points a club got...
Not quite as idealistic as Akira Kurosowa’s Seven Samurai and not quite as stylish as John Sturges Magnificent Seven, Manchester United’s Super Seven are the ones expected to employ new methods to restore traditional ways. Dynamic, fluid, classy, clinical and with a point to prove the seven strikers on Manchester United’s first team books have been assembled by Sir Alex Ferguson, are expected to score goals and lead the club back to glory. The seven are Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Mame Biram Diouf, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda. A trio of Englishmen, a Bulgarian, a Mexican, a Senegalese and an Italian. There is diversity, experience and promise.
Michael Owen, a thirty year old England international, is a proven goalscorer trying to find a way...
Rarely have I seen a player make such an impressive debut for a club than the one I saw Wednesday night when Javier Hernandez came on as a second half substitute for Manchester United against the MLS All Star team. I’ve seen him play for Mexico before, but all of his skills were crystalized before my eyes in an incredible 30 minutes of action.
Simply said: This. Man. Is. Amazing.
Hernandez (aka Chicharito) possesses pace and skill that is far beyond the average Premier League footballer. He is a gifted two-footed player who is a natural goalscorer. And on top of that, he can launch blistering attacks that will definitely rip apart weaker defenses. This is, by far, the player I’m most looking forward to watching this upcoming Premier League season. The prospect of seeing him lining up...
Having reported on United’s earlier stop in Philadelphia last week to mixed results, I feel the need to continue my so called ‘following’ of the club as they continue their trek across America before ending it in Mexico.
Don’t call this a match report or match analysis, outside circumstances kept me from devoting the time and attention needed to thoroughly dissect United’s or Kansas City’s performance, I wasn’t able to view the match in it’s entirety.
From what I did actually see, Kansas City played a very physical and organized match. On more than a few occasions, I witnessed potential flash points in a match that saw multiple yellow cards, a red, a penalty and a controversial goal.
Let’s allow this forum to serve as an open thread for EPL Talk readers who were able...
Manchester United played a training session Wednesday in Chicago that was open to the public. And we had EPL Talk photographer Christian Doellner on hand to capture some brilliant pictures of what happened on the pitch at Toyota Park.
Players including Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar and others trained for approximately one hour in front of a few thousand spectators.
Thursday morning, officials and players from Manchester United rung the opening bell on the Chicago Stock Exchange. Next step for Man United is to play their first preseason friendly of the summer. They’ll be playing against Toronto FC at BMO Field. For viewers in the United States, the game will be televised on ESPN2 at 7pm ET.
Related posts:Man United Home Shirt: New Photos Released for 2010-11 Season
Man...
A new photograph of Manchester United’s new home jersey for the 2010-11 season has been leaked on the Internet.
The image, which shows a design of Nike’s UK website, features pictures of Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney wearing the new Manchester United home football jersey.
The retro design is sure to be a big hit among Manchester United supporters around the world. Just as Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will be donning retro-inspired kits during the 2010-11 season, so too will Manchester United with retro collars and a retro design that’s reminiscent of Man United’s kits from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Share your feedback about the new Manchester United football shirt design in the comments section below.
For the largest selection of Premier League...
Controversial World Cup star Luis Suarez has hinted that he will have to leave Ajax if Premier League giants Manchester United come calling. The 23 year old, who misses his country’s vital semifinal with Spain, thanks to his handball against Ghana in the quarter final, has scored an extremely impressive 49 goals in 48 games for the Dutch giants.
Suarez said that despite being happy at Ajax, he believed that an offer from Manchester United would be too good to refuse. Speaking about the elite clubs of Barcelona and Manchester United, the Uruguayan said, “If they call, you listen. I would only leave Ajax for a team in that category.”
Sir Alex Ferguson’s plate is loaded with options in attack at the moment, with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen, Federico Macheda and new...
Brazil’s star striker Luis Fabiano is looking to win the World Cup trophy with his country this summer, but second on his to-do list soon after is a high profile move to either Manchester United or AC Milan.
Fabiano has openly spoken of his intentions to not re-sign with current Spanish side Sevilla, and has snubbed a potential move to Premier League club Spurs stating,
“There would be no point in me joining Tottenham. I might as well stay at Sevilla, as it’s the same thing. Sevilla are actually bigger when you look at how much we have been in the European Cup, so there would be no point me moving to a smaller team”.
Maybe a bit tough to hear for Spurs fans, but Fabiano definitely looking to win something besides the UEFA Cup, which he accomplished with Sevilla, at club...
Two new photos have emerged of the new Manchester United home jersey for the 2010-11 season (see above).
The new Man United home shirt is consistent with the previously uncovered image of the jersey. The shirt is still red with white trim and an old-fashioned collar. What is different, however, is that we can see the detail on the back of the show where “MUFC” is sewn in under the back of the collar. And the back of the shirt has a subtle chevron design woven into the fabric.
The more I see the shirt, the more it grows on me. It’s definitely a retro design that harkens back to the late 70s when football (and shirt designs) were simpler. In a day and age where more clubs are releasing retro designed shirts, the forthcoming release from Nike and Manchester United is a welcome...
With no more English football to watch, it’s off to play the transfer rumor game again. We all know many of these transfer rumors just end up frustrating us. However, it provides a little bit of a fix while we wait for the World Cup to begin.
Sir Alex and Manchester United have done pretty well for themselves in the transfer market over the years. They saw enough promise in an 18 year old Wayne Rooney to pay about 25 million pounds to Everton, paid around a mere 12 million for Cristiano Ronaldo, and signed a top EPL defender, Patrice Evra, for just over 5 million.
Just like with the Liverpool Transfer Rumors article, the newspaper accuracy for Manchester United stories isn’t too great. The English newspaper with the highest percentage of correct transfer predictions is (again) The...
One of America’s worst kept soccer secrets has finally been confirmed. Manchester United will be touring North America this summer and playing five games across the continent from Canada to the United States and finally to Mexico.
Celtic v Manchester United, July 16, Rogers Centre, Toronto
Philadelphia Union v Manchester United, July 21, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Kansas City Wizards v Manchester United, July 25, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas
MLS All-Stars v Manchester United, July 28, Reliant Stadium, Houston
Chivas v Manchester United, July 30, Guadalajara
“It’s great to be going back to North America,” Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. “I enjoyed the last two tours there in 2003 and 2004 immensely. The quality of the facilities is outstanding and...
Manchester United is reportedly scheduled to play a friendly against the Kansas City Wizards on July 25, most probably at Arrowhead Stadium, as part of the Red Devils’ summer tour of the United States.
The news of Manchester United’s friendly in Kansas City comes from a tweet (pictured above) posted on Twitter by a communications intern at the Wizards. And on the same day, a tweet was posted by Wizards president Robb Heineman as well as a note on the BigSoccer message boards where he confirmed the date.
So far, the only confirmed friendly featuring Manchester United is their July 30th game against Chivas in Guadalajara, Mexico. But the Red Devils are strongly linked with friendlies against Celtic (on July 16 or 17 in Toronto, Canada); against the MLS All-Star team (on July 27 in...
A photograph of Manchester United’s new away shirt for the 2010-11 has been leaked on the Internet.
Designed and manufactured by Nike, the new Manchester United shirt has been drastically changed. The new away shirt is white, features the new sponsor’s name, but the sleeve design is quite radical in the way that the black red and white are designed. It’s quite flashy and is definitely more adventurous than previous Man United designs from recent years.
What do you think of the new design? Leave your opinions in the comments section below.
For the largest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 clubs, visit the EPL Talk Shop.
Source: Todo Sobre Camisetas
Related posts:Manchester United Home Shirt for 2010-11 Season: Photo
Arsenal Home Shirt for 2010-12 Season: Leaked......
A few weeks ago, ESPN2 achieved a record high TV viewing audience for a broadcast of a Premier League match on US television. That game on April 3, 2010 between Manchester United and Chelsea drew an audience of 526,000 viewers. And now with this past Saturday’s derby between Manchester City and Manchester United, ESPN2 scored an equally impressive viewing audience.
The Manchester derby generated a 0.3 rating and was seen by an estimated 420,000 viewers in 316,000 TV homes. While the list of ratings for 2009-10 Premier League matches on US television is not comprehensive, it appears likely that the TV audience for the Manchester City against Manchester United game was the second highest of this season.
ESPN2’s recent luck with quality fixtures continues this weekend when they’ll be...
Manchester City supporters took the mickey out on Manchester United fans at Eastlands this past Saturday (see above picture), but it was the United supporters who were having the last laugh after Paul Scholes’s injury time winner.
Still, you have to give credit to City supporters for being creative.
Related posts:Time For Man United Fans To End Green and Gold Brigade
For Manchester United Supporters, Glazer Era Must End Soon
You Say City And I Say United, Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off...
This is it. The match that means everything to both teams. Manchester City against Manchester United. If you remember, the league game between both sides at Old Trafford last autumn was one of the highlights of the season. The deciding goal by Michael Owen. Fergie time.
There is simply too much riding on this game today that there will be no controversy. The match will be played at such a fever pitch that mistakes will undoubtedly happen, which means that I believe the referee is guaranteed to make a crucial mistake or two.
I’m not a big fan of making predictions, but I will predict that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to blow his lid at some point in this game. You’ll see the Ferguson of old getting red in the face. Something that we haven’t seen in a very long time. Unless, of course,...
Speculation continues that Manchester United will be the opponents in the MLS All-Star Game this summer, to be held in Houston. A July 28th date has been touted. Plus there have been reports of Manchester United touring a few other cities in the United States. Nothing official has been announced yet, but the rumors carry a lot more weight now given that Manchester United announced on their website this week that they will play against Chivas in Guadalajara, Mexico on July 30.
Manchester United’s game in Mexico will be to open the new Chivas Stadium. The agreement was struck as part of the deal to bring striker Javier Hernandez from Chivas to the Old Trafford club.
Also, late Friday, a source told EPL Talk that Paul Scholes is expected to be appearing at a soccer clinic in Orlando,...
I’ve never been a big fan of the away goals rule because it seems like an odd rule that exists only as a cruel and unusual punishment to knock a losing team out of a cup tournament. But the match between Manchester United and Bayern Munich was a perfect example of how well it can work and how it adds an important subtext to a game that is already filled with numerous plot lines.
When Manchester United was leading 3-1 against Bayern Munich, the team was cruising. A fourth goal seemed inevitable but there was also the fear that if Bayern could unseemingly get a second goal, then the match would sway in the German’s favor.
And that’s exactly what happened. Arjen Robben scored an absolutely inch-perfect goal through the tightest of spaces to make the scoreline 3-2 to Manchester United....
Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United. Drawn by Nicholas Buchel, using a Sharpie for the red lines and a fancier pen for the yellow.
Related posts:Drawings of Torres, Rooney and Adebayor
The Ghost Of Ronaldo Scores For United vs Arsenal
Ronaldo Departure A Huge Blow To Manchester United...
Watching the Manchester United against Chelsea match on television this past Saturday, it was clear to see that there were more green and gold colors in the stands at Old Trafford than the traditional red, white and black of the Red Devils. It made me wonder what’s more important for Manchester United supporters — their movement to force the Glazers out or the support of the club itself?
In a match where the Manchester United players needed the support of their fans more than any time this season to lift the team up for a massive game, the fans at Old Trafford didn’t do their part. For a match of this magnitude, the United supporters were relatively quiet. Listening to the crowd on television, it sounded as if the Chelsea supporters were far more vocal and this was even before the...
During Saturday’s Manchester United against Chelsea match at Old Trafford, you may have heard the sarcastic chants from Chelsea supporters of “USA, USA, USA.” The chants were directed at the Manchester United supporters. They were part tongue-in-cheek humor as well as a little bit of banter to wind up the Man United supporters and mock their American owners.
But in my opinion, the chants are in poor taste, disrespectful to Americans and insulting.
It’s not just a faction of Chelsea supporters who are directing the sarcastic chants at Manchester United supporters. Arsenal and Manchester City supporters have reportedly joined in the chanting. And it’s not just Man United supporters who are the butt of the joke. Liverpool fans have been the target of similar chants too.
In the...
Two stories coming out of Manchester today couldn’t be more opposite. The blue half will garner an incredible amount of respect and praise for its plans to spend an obscene amount of money to redevelop the area around the City of Manchester Stadium. The red half, meanwhile, is using some heavy-handed tactics to try to suppress the rising tide of interest and support for the green and gold brigade and their support of the Red Knights campaign to take over Manchester United.
Here are the two stories in more detail with links to the source articles from The Guardian:
Manchester United comes down hard on green and gold support. Several weeks ago we led with the story about Manchester United banning its players from using social media sites. Now it seems that the club has banned its...
And so it begins in earnest. After months of pressure being to filter through from fan groups, the last few weeks have seen Manchester United fans begin to turn up the pressure on the Glazer family. Do not be fooled by people giving this anti-American slant, this is not about such trivial matters as nationality. Manchester United fans do not disagree about the club being owned by Americans, they disagree with how the club is being run, seemingly as a piggy bank for the Glazer family.
It seems astounding to consider that Manchester United are now saddled with a £712 million debt, which regardless of how much spin comes out of the United PR department, is growing year on year. The Love United Hate Glazer campaign is growing in strength, a group of potential benefactors known as the Red...
I accept that this is not necessarily the most obvious topic for a blog posting, but stick with me here, I'll get to the point soon...
For Liberal Democrats, there is no obvious link to any Premier League team (unless you're conditioned to do what Sara Bedford tells you to do). And, given the uncanny ability of Ipswich Town to draw their games (draw number 17 of the season at the weekend), leading Liberal Democrat donor, Marcus Evans, who owns the club, is unlikely to be visiting the directors' box at the Emirates or Old Trafford for a league fixture any time soon (go on boys, prove us wrong!).
However, that may be about to change. The Red Knights consortium, currently considering a bid for Manchester United, includes amongst its supporters, Paul Marshall, leading hedge fund manager...
• Group of wealthy fans called Red Knights met in London• Red Knights working on proposal to be put to Glazer FamilyThe group of wealthy and well-connected Manchester United fans known as the Red Knights today confirmed that they are putting together a bid for Manchester United."Following the intense media speculation overnight, we can confirm that a group of high net worth individuals, who support Manchester United (known as the "Red Knights"), met in London yesterday. This group is supportive of current management but are looking at the feasibility of putting together a proposal to be put to the Glazer Family regarding the ownership of Manchester United," it said in a statement. "These discussions are in early stages and no contact has been made with the Glazer Family."• The key...
Will Manchester United Win the Champions League?(polls)
It was a textbook Manchester United performance. The Red Devils entered the San Siro with the pressure of performing against some of the top footballers in the world such as Pato, Beckham, Ronaldinho, Seedorf, Nesta, Pirlo, Ambrosini and Huntelaar. And despite being outplayed in the first half of the match, United managed to go into the changing room level at 1-1 at the half after a fluke goal by Paul Scholes that hit his standing leg and bobbled into the far corner of the net.
At halftime, Sir Alex Ferguson must have lit into his players because Manchester United’s second half performance was significantly improved. And United got what they deserved from all of their hard work with two exquisite headers from Wayne Rooney,...
It sounds too simple, but the difference between Arsenal and Manchester United on Sunday was finishing. Both teams had several chances in front of goal. Manchester United scored most of them. Arsenal missed all of them.
There were several shots from Arsenal that skimmed past the post or straight at Edwin van der Sar. Andrei Arshavin and Alexandre Song had plenty of chances. So too did Cesc Fabregas and others wearing red and white.
But when Manchester United pushed forward and had a chance in front of goal, you had the feeling that something was going to happen, that they would make Almunia work hard, and that they did.
The other differentiating factor in today’s game was the combination of Nani and Wayne Rooney both of whom were on fire in the first half.
Finally, finally, finally...
League Cup Man City 2 Man Utd 1 : 1st leg semi final at EastlandsRoberto Mancini's Manchester City took the 1st leg to the Premier League champions Manchester United, winning 2-1 at Eastlands.BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner Ryan Giggs scored early on in the 17th minute, shooting from close range placing the ball into the centre of the goal.Carlos Tevez looked sharp, the Argentinian scored a well struck penalty to equalise and then shortly after the break he got his brace in the 65th minute, scoring with his head. Shortly after that Tevez was substiuted but got BBC man of the match which was well deserved.Manchester United finished strongly but they couldn't quite get the equaliser, setting up a great second leg at Old...
Manchester United posted an announcement on its website Friday that said that none of its players maintain personal profiles on social networking sites.
“The club wishes to make it clear that no Manchester United players maintain personal profiles on social networking websites,” said the note posted on ManUtd.com. “Fans encountering any web pages purporting to be written by United players should treat them with extreme scepticism. Any official news relating to Manchester United or its players will be communicated via ManUtd.com.”
However what the announcement failed to mention is that several Manchester United footballers used to have accounts on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook accounts, but they have either been shut down or the contents on...
Manchester United is for sale and is the subject of a takeover at a bargain price of £1.2 million according to The Daily Express. Except that it isn’t £1.2 million, it’s £1.2 billion (they flubbed the headline). And if The Daily Express can’t get the headline correct, how trustworthy is the actual story itself?
You can see the headline flub here (until they correct their mistake).
As for the story itself, the article contains no quotes from anyone about a supposed Manchester United takeover and there’s no attribution about the supposed story of United putting feelers out to Middle East buyers. Typical Express rubbish....
