Fletcher feels for Cleverley

21/11/2011 11:22, Report by Adam Marshall

Darren Fletcher admits fellow midfielder Tom Cleverley will be missed by Manchester United as he recovers from an ankle ligament injury.

Sir Alex Ferguson ruled the England squad member out of action until Christmas after he suffered a recurrence of the problem during the win at Everton. However, Fletcher is convinced Cleverley will return to play a key role this term.

"It is disappointing," conceded the Scot. "Tom will be very disappointed personally, as we are as a team. He had been performing so well and had a great start to the season. The important thing now is that he gets the injury right. It is one of those niggly ones. He came back and had a recurrence.

"The best thing for him to do is get himself right. He will be an important player for the remainder of the season and hopefully the push for silverware. He is thought very highly of and rightly so because of his performances. People say he is still young but he has had a lot of experience. He was in the [Barclays] Premier League with Wigan last year and had a loan spell at Watford.

"He did fantastically well at both clubs. We are delighted to have him back from Wigan. He is an important part of our squad now and has fought his way into the team with some great performances this season."

Fletcher will be hoping to start against Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday and realises that it's important for the Reds to win Group C.

"You do want to finish top," he asserted. "First and foremost, you look to qualify for the knockout stages. But you want to finish top, for the last-16 draw and for other perks like playing the second leg at home.

"We saw Arsenal finish second in their group last season and end up being drawn against Barcelona. Although people say you have to beat these teams if you want to win it, it is good to avoid them until later in the competition.

"The threat in this season's Champions League is from the usual places. The other teams in England, plus Real Madrid and Barcelona, while Bayern Munich have been mightily impressive and the Italian teams have great experience. Competition in the knockout stages is very fierce. There are no easy games and a lot of teams will be thinking they can go on and win it."

Fletcher was speaking to ManUtd.com, PA Sport, BBC Radio Manchester and Key 103.

source : Manutd

FA to appeal against Wayne Rooney's three-match international ban

• England striker banned for group stage of Euro 2012
• Rooney was sent off during qualifier against Montenegro

• Kevin McCarra
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 November 2011 19.42 GMT

 

The FA will appeal against Wayne Rooney's three-match ban that would see him miss the entire Euro 2012 group stage. Photograph: Michael Regan/The FA via Getty Images

The Football Association has confirmed it will appeal against the three-match ban that would see Wayne Rooney miss the group phase at Euro 2012. The ruling body had been wary of his punishment being extended but has been reassured that this will not happen. Once Uefa acknowledges receipt of the fax lodging the appeal, a decision is expected to be made within six days. It is feasible that a conclusion will be reached by the end of next week.
"We will be appealing against the three-match suspension Wayne Rooney received following the recent Euro 2012 qualifier in Montenegro," said an FA spokesman. "We received written reasons for the red card on Tuesday afternoon and we were given until midnight [on Friday] to respond."
While the FA believes it is worth pursuing the matter, there is a consciousness at Uefa of the unpleasant nature of the offence by Rooney during last month's Euro 2012 qualifier in Montenegro when he let his frustration over bad control led him to kick Miodrag Dzudovic. The Montenegro defender has since spoken in support of Rooney.
In all of this, it tends to be overlooked that this was not a first offence by the Manchester United striker in the qualification group. He had not even been aware that he would miss the qualifier with Switzerland in June of this year after collecting his second yellow card of the qualifying campaign against Wales in March.
The conduct by Rooney on the international scene will be of particular concern to Fabio Capello since the player's behaviour has been markedly different of late with United. He has been shown only a single yellow card for his club this season. The stress and even neurosis that surrounds the national team continues to do its work.
It is not known if Rooney will travel to make a personal appeal to Uefa over the ban. England duty has been known to inflame him and there was a red card for the stamp on Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup. Rooney is more settled now, particularly with his club. Nonetheless, he continues to be a cause of anxiety to his international manager.
In its way the petulance was even more worrying than the aggression displayed against Dzudovic in Podgorica. Nonetheless, the patience shown to Rooney by Capello is unlikely to disappear. There are too few performers who can come close to equalling the impact of Rooney when he is at peace and focused on the task.
John Terry is another figure in whom Capello has invested faith. The Italian, unusually, went back on his verdict when reinstating him as captain. The manager, however, is far too sensible to involve himself in the furore over the latest difficulty for Terry. There have been allegations that Terry directed a racist remark at the Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, although the England captain denies making the comment. Capello has no intention of involving himself in the matter and the FA will be left to reach a verdict on the issue.
Underlying such issues is the fact that, regardless of any opinions held by Capello, his need of Terry is great when the future of Rio Ferdinand is in question now that he has trouble reaching and sustaining fitness. There are hard times ahead in the closing months of Capello's time with England. By now he will have come to accept sudden disruption as a natural state of affairs but his hopes of ending his tenure with a flourish have not looked good this week.

source : theguardian

United 2 Otelul Galati 0

2 NOVEMBER 2011, OLD TRAFFORD Attendance: 74,847

02/11/2011 21:30, Report by Nick Coppack 

United's Champions League victory over Romania's Otelul Galati was workmanlike rather than wonderful. But a win's a win and this one was enough to leave Sir Alex's men in a commanding position at the top of Group C, with two games to play.

Antonio Valencia's eighth-minute tap-in was all that separated the sides on the scoreboard until Wayne Rooney's late long-range effort deflected off Cristian Sarghi and past the Galati goalkeeper. But it wasn't as if United found the going particularly tough against Galati; the Reds actually looked comfortable, if not wholly convincing, for long periods.

It was a similar story a fortnight ago in Bucharest when two second-half spot-kicks, both won and converted by Rooney, handed United the three points. Rooney didn't quite get his name on the scoresheet again in this match (UEFA have declared the Reds' second an own goal), but he still had a big impact, albeit from a much different area of the pitch.

Indeed, Sir Alex took the unusual step of deploying Wayne in a deep-lying midfield role. And although it was unfamiliar teriitory, the Reds' no.10 didn't disappoint. Within 40 seconds he had chased Liviu Antal down towards the corner flag and harried the Romanian into coughing up possession.

Rooney then went on to demonstrate, in understated fashion, a knack for keeping the ball moving with simple first-time passes, interspersing these with a steady array of more ambitious long balls. In many ways, his performance was reminiscent of the way Paul Scholes used to quietly dictate a game's rhythmn.

Indeed, it was the Reds' no.10 who was responsible for launching the attack that yielded the early opener. His long, raking pass to the right wing found Dimitar Berbatov, who held the ball up briefly before releasing Phil Jones on the overlap. His ball to the near post just eluded Michael Owen’s stretch, but waiting behind, unmarked and only three yards from goal, was Antonio Valencia. He was never going to miss.

The joy in the stands was tempered a minute later when Owen, who appeared to have injured himself while attempting to reach Jones' cross, limped down the tunnel and was replaced by Javier Hernandez. It was United's two full-backs, though, who came closest to adding a second before half-time. First Fabio embarked on a dribble from the left-back position that only ended when his attempt to roll the ball across goal for Berbatov was blocked by a last-ditch tackle. Along the way he'd left countless Romanians in his wake.

Then Jones surged down the right, cut inside the penalty area and unleashed a curling left-footed effort that looked bound for the far corner until Sergiu Costin intervened with a headed clearance. Galati, too, almost troubled the scorers on 42 minutes when Ionut Neagu pounced on Anderson's loose pass and advanced on goal. His effort took a touch off Rio Ferdinand, which forced David De Gea, hitherto unworked and

untroubled, into a smart reflex save.

Just after the break, Berbatov, Jones and Hernandez sparked brief panic inside the Galati penalty area with some neat interplay that cut the Romanian defence apart before goalkeeper Grahovac spread himself well to snuff out the danger. Down the other end, De Gea had to be equally alert to punch the ball clear as Antal raced to get on the end of a left-wing centre. Minutes later he gleefully clutched the ball to his chest after Costin rose at the back post to meet subsitute Sorin Frunza's corner.

Costin was in the thick of the action again when he raced back to clear off the line after Anderson combined with Berbatov to reach the return pass first and lift the ball past the onrushing Grahovac. Hernandez had a long-range shot saved and Berbatov poked a presentable chance wide of the near post on 75 minutes before Rooney added the icing on the cake with his deflected effort.

It made the final scoreline look more respectable and probably reflected more accurately the balance of play (although Galati did try and force their way back into it late on). In many ways, though, the sloppy nature of the goal summed up a match that probably won't live long in the memory of many United fans.

Rooney is running

Anderson is flying

Antonio Valencia celebrate his goal

source : www.manutd.com