Van der Sar, Neville and Wes Brown miss Celtic trip
November 5, 2008
Manchester United trio Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville and Wes Brown are all missing from the squad which travelled to Glasgow today ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League encounter with Celtic.
The club have confirmed that Van der Sar is being rested whilst Wes Brown has failed to shake off an ankle injury. It is less clear whether Neville has picked up an injury but with Brown out, you would have expected Neville to make the squad; even just for cover. Rafael da Silva travelled with the squad so he looks set for his 5th start of the season.
Ben Foster is set to make his first appearance of the season for the club ahead of Tomasz Kuszczak who will sit on the bench for the tenth time this season.
4 Reds nominated for 2008 European Footballer of the Year award
October 20, 2008
The 2008 European Footballer of the Year award nominees were announced last night with United having four players nominated; Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic and Edwin van der Sar.
Other Premier League club’s with players nominated are predictably Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but none have as many nominations as United. Chelsea have three players up for the award; Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba whilst Liverpool and Arsenal have two nominees each in Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, and Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor respectively. The only club with more is Real Madrid with 5 but one of them, Rafael van der Vaart, earned his nomination whilst playing for Hamburg.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a big favourite to lift the prestigious Ballon d’Or award with the chances of any of the other Reds scooping the prize being slim (if you’re Wayne Rooney) to non-existent (for Vidic and Van der Sar - sorry). Simply being nominated is a big achievement and as pointed out by Gemma Thompson over at manutd.com, where on earth is Ferdie’s nomination? He had a fantastic season for us last year and his consistency over the last couple of years has been spot on.
I know I may be biased but I seriously can’t see past Ronaldo for the award. Messi might run him close but overall, there was noone doing what he was doing last year, he really was in a class of his own.
The full list of nominations
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain
Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Argentina
Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Argentina
Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona), Cameroon
Xavi (Barcelona), Spain
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), France
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Russia
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Italy
Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Spain
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), England
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands
Kaka (Milan AC), Brazil
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal
Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Netherland
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain
David Villa (Valence CF), Spain
Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Russia
UEFA Club Football of the Year nominees 2007/08 sees 6 reds up for award
August 23, 2008
The nominees for UEFA’s club footballer of the year were announced yesterday and the Red’s lead the way with a total of 6 players nominated. The strength of the premier league is demonstrated with 17 of the 20 nominees playing their football in England. United have nominees in each category (goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forwards) and our prediction is that United players will take 3 out of the 4 awards on offer.
Edwin van der Sar is nominated for the best goalkeeper award alongside Manuel Almunia of Arsenal, Petr Cech of Chelsea, Manuel Neuer of FC Shalke and Pepe Reina of Liverpool. There is no way Van der Sar is not going to win this one; he was instrumental in our domestic success and it was his penalty save in the Champions League final which won us the trophy. One down.
Wrong: Petr Cech won it again.
Both Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand have been shortlisted for the club defender of the year award alongside Jamie Carragher of Liverpool, Carles Puyol of Barcelona and John Terry of Chelsea. Vidic has had an outstanding season but Rio is sure to take this one. His displays last season were nothing short of immense and he has silenced any critics who thought he was overrated with dominant displays at the back. It used to be said that Rio was a great player on his day. After last season’s performances, I think it’s safe to say every day is his day. 2 out of 2.
Wrong: 0 for 2. John Terry won. Did they miss that penalty? Robbed.
The only United player to be nominated in midfield is Paul Scholes and I just don’t see him winning this one. His goal against Barcelona was a truly memorable moment but will it be enough to secure him the title of UEFA’s best midfielder of the year? Scholes is up against Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal, Michael Essien and Frank Lampard of Chelsea and Steven Gerrard of Liverpool. I think Fabregas’ performance against AC Milan in the competition may be enough to win him this one.
Wrong: Frank Lampard won this and that’s 0 for 3 in my predictions.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney will do battle for the best forward of the year along with Lionel Messi of Barcelona, Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Fernando Torres of Liverpool. It is surely not even worth considering anyone for this award other than the Portuguese trickster Ronaldo. He finished the competition’s top scorer with 8 goals, more than both Torres and Drogba who came in a close second with 6 each and double the 4 goals Rooney managed. Drogba finished the season’s top fouler with 37 offences and his red card against United in the final will surely rule him out of the award. Torres also clocked up a fair number of fouls committing an average of one foul every 35 minutes. Torres did have a good debut season but Ronaldo was out of this world. Another award for the forwards cabinet.
Correct: Well done Cristiano Ronaldo. This was a no brainer….
You can see more information on last season’s Champions League in our top performers list comiled at the end of the 07/08 campaign.
United’s contingent at Euro 2008
June 7, 2008
Being Premiership Champions and Champions League Winners, you would be forgiven for thinking the bulk of our players will be away at the Euros which start today. Unfortunately for us (the supporters, England ones in particular), but fortunately for United, that won’t be the case as only 5 of our players will compete in this summer’s tournament.
In his time at United, Ferguson has always created a squad with many British players and his latest squad is no different. Throw in a few South American’s, a South Korean and a handful of Europeans and you’ve got our team. With no British teams qualifying, many of our players will be putting their feet up in preparation for the new campaign so on a positive note, we can expect to hit the ground running next season.
That said, here’s the players that will be representing their countries in this year’s tournament and how we think they will fare.
Cristiano Ronaldo & Nani for Portugal
Obviously tipped to be one of the stars of the tournament but will all the hype surrounding his potential Real Madrid move have any impact on his performance? We should expect to see both Ronaldo and Nani playing key roles for Portugal with both trying to get on the ball and play.
Portugal have been drawn in the group A along with Switzerland, Turkey and Czech Republic and will kick off tonight against Turkey followed by matches against Czech Republic and Switzerland. Playing the home nation is never an easy task but a I fully expect them to qualify with 2 if not 3 wins.
Patrice Evra for France
Despite a successful club campaign last season, Evra will start as second choice to Barcelona’s Abidal. With the speed and versality of Evra, I fully expect him to have a role to play for France, especially if things are not going well. Evra will probably be used as an impact player.
France have been drawn in group C and will start their campaign against Romania on Monday. It is then two very difficult games against the Netherlands and Italy with both of these teams having a very realistic chance of qualifying. This is a tough group to call but I’m going for France and Italy, sorry Holland.
Edwin van Der Sar for the Netherlands
This is Van der Sar’s last outing as an International player so it goes without saying he will want to go out with a bang. The Dutch squad is strong this season but they are in a very difficult group starting out against Italy on Monday followed by games against France and Romania.
The Dutch have an excellent chance of progressing but it remains to be seen whether the team can play to their potential having fallen so many times before. Unfortunately for Edwin, I fear the Netherlands may be one of the early casualties of the tournament.
Tomasz Kuszczak For Poland
Unfortunately for Kuszczak, he probably wont get a game this summer unless there is an injury to Poland’s usual goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
Poland are in group B and play their opening game against Germany followed by matches against Austria and Croatia. Germany are sure-fire favourites to win this group and I expect Croatia to join them in the latter stages.
How long left for Edwin van der Sar?
June 6, 2008
Edwin van der Sar has been around the block a few times in footballing terms; he has won the champions league with two clubs (Man Utd and Ajax), played in the Dutch league, the Italian league and of course the Premiership. He has no fewer than 16 club honours to his name as well as a string of individual ones including being voted the best European Keeper in 2005.
Looking back at the 2007/2008 season, Van der Sar highlighted the away game to Sporting Lisbon as one of his favorite games of the season “That game was almost perfect for me” he said. “The preparation, the coaching before the game, the saves I made, the way I played with the defence – it all felt right”.
Van der Sar is firmly established as United’s number one but he’s not ready to sit back on his laurels with United also having two talented goalkeepers waiting in the wings in Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak. Both will be looking to push for games next season. Van der Sar is happy to pass on his experience to them but admitted he has not finished learning himself. Speaking of the other keepers he said “they may be young, but there is always a different way to do things. I see things and think, ‘Hey, that’s interesting – maybe I could try that.’ You can do that with any goalkeeper”.
At age 37, you would expect retirement to be Van der Sar’s plans but the Dutch goalkeeper has a hunger in his belly and isn’t even considering it yet. Van der Sar is definitely signed up for at least one more campaign with the Reds and asked about the possibility of an even longer stay, he told manutd.com “I just take it year by year and this year has been good for me – I feel good. I’ve had some little injuries, some little niggles, and that reminds you that you’re getting older. But really they’re nothing that a younger player can’t get also. I’ll keep on reviewing it, but winning trophies makes you feel younger. It makes you want to keep on playing”.
You can read the full interview here.
Edwin van der Sar interview on prospects of winning the title
May 1, 2008
Edwin van der Sar talks abot United’s form and chances of ending the season as champions.
Van der Sar saves 3 in a row. Charity Shield 2007
September 5, 2007
After a 1 - 1 draw in the 2007 Charity Shield, it takes penalties to seperate the teams. Up steps Edwin van der Sar.
