Monday, November 26, 2012

Carrick hails Scholes influence

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has plenty of experience of first class football but he has admitted he is still learning all the time from veteran Paul Scholes.
Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson has been keen to use Scholes’ influence since bringing him out of retirement last season.
The 38-year-old has been used sparingly this season but did start in United’s 3-2 victory over Aston Villa.
Scholes continues to be rock solid in the middle of the park for United and it’s no wonder why Ferguson has been keen to keep the former England international going as long as possible, despite being linked with Wesley Sneijder yet again .
Carrick is another big admirer of the veteran and has admitted his influence even spreads to the older members of the squad at Old Trafford.
The 31-year-old said: "Paul Scholes is a genius. It is fantastic to play with him.
"Whether he realises or not, he has helped me enormously just by watching him and taking things in.
"We all know what he can do. But there are some things you simply cannot teach. You can learn but some of the stuff only he can do."
United have made a strong start to their Premier League campaign and are well placed in the Champions league betting after securing their passage to the knock-out stages with two games to spare. if they were to claim their 20th league title, there would be little doubt that Scholes would have had a big impact on that success.
Whether it’s scoring the goals, making an impact off the bench or just giving advice on the training paddock; it would be hard to put a price on how much Scholes’ influence is a positive at Old Trafford.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Ferdinand Coy over New Contract

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has revealed that he is in no rush to sign a new contract, despite his current deal coming to an end in the summer.
Manchester United have a history of nurturing their star players to eek extra years from tiring legs, with Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes both playing regular soccer games well into their late thirties, and Sir Alex Ferguson believes that, at 33, Ferdinand could still have at least another couple of seasons in him yet.
Despite Ferguson’s confidence, Ferdinand would rather re-assess at Christmas before committing his future to United. "The best thing to do is look at it at Christmas, then again in the summer to see how I am feeling and go again from there” Ferdinand said. "But hearing the manager say things like that definitely puts a spring in your step."
With Ferdinand’s England career seemingly over he is now free to concentrate on his club football and he seems convinced that his omission from Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad has helped him to ensure that he has been consistently available this season.
"I think it has but I will have a better idea in December and January when the games start coming thick and fast," he added. "That's when it really hits you, you know the hard work has to start and you begin to think about the home stretch.”
Given recent events off the field, Rio Ferdinand could be forgiven for wanting to walk away from football at the end of this season, despite many Premier League predictions tipping him to stay on.
Whilst Ferdinand will no doubt look back at his England career with some regrets he has enjoyed huge amounts of success at Old Trafford and, if this is to be his last season, he will surely be pushing to ensure that his club career ends in triumph rather than fizzling out in the way that his time with the national team did.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Vidic is a Big Miss for Fergie

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that his talismanic captain, Namanja Vidic, is now likely to be out until Christmas.
Vidic underwent knee surgery in September and had initially hoped to be back by mid-November but it nows seems that Ferguson is resigned to losing the Serbian international for a few more weeks yet.
 "I think we're talking around December for Vidic," Ferguson told sport news reporters.  "Maybe around Christmas time."
31-year old Vidic missed much of last season after injuring his knee against Basel in December and he was forced to watch as his side endured their first trophy-less season since 2004-05.
It is impossible to say whether or not Ferguson’s side would have won anything last season had Vidic been fit but they were only one point away from retaining the title. Had Vidic been available for more of the season, they would surely have seen out one or two of the soccer games that they really should have won towards the end of the year and they could have won the league at a canter.
Last season Ferguson called upon a number of deputies to step in to Vidic’s shoes, but none provided the reassurance that the big Serb brings. Having failed to bring in any extra cover in the summer, Ferguson will again be relying on the likes of Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones to partner Rio Ferdinand at the back.

Given the injury problems that all of United’s defensive options have experienced their squad is beginning to look a little thin. Whilst Vidic’s absence doesn’t seem to have cost Ferguson just yet, he will be praying that the former Spartak Moscow man comes back as soon as possible.

If Vidic doesn’t make it back in December then it’s just possible that the Old Trafford faithful might have to put up with another fruitless season in 2012-13.