RVN on RVP

Robin Van Persie will lead table-topping Manchester United up front again tonight against West Ham.

And after a stunning start to his Old Trafford career, United legend Van Nistelrooy can see his Dutch countryman making the difference in the Premier League race.

RVN said: “As he’s proving right now, Robin IS making the difference.

“If he can keep going like this through the whole season then I can see United landing another title.”

Van Nistelrooy played alongside Van Persie for Holland so knows exactly what United’s summer signing is all about.

That is why he considered the £22million Alex Ferguson shelled out on the 29-year-old Arsenal star was never going to be a gamble — as some thought.

Van Nistelrooy said: “He’s proved those people wrong already. I was close to him in the national team and was convinced of his qualities then.

“He fits into United’s playing style. He’s everywhere, involved in the play and the finishing — so that makes him special.”

RVP has made a stunning start at United with 11 goals from 17 games already as the Red Devils have powered to the top of the league.

RVN added: “I spoke to him a while ago and congratulated him on his fantastic start. I wished him well and told him to continue like this.

“It feels like he’s been here for ever. He started scoring, got his first goal quickly and has never stopped since. It’s important for a striker when he goes to a new club to start getting goals.”

Van Nistelrooy, 36, was back at Old Trafford last week as a guest of the club for the unveiling of Fergie’s statue and stayed to watch the QPR game.

His 150 goals in 219 games between 2001-06 make him a United legend.

But he would leave in disappointing circumstances after falling out with Ferguson, although they have patched things up.

Van Nistelrooy said: “I left quickly. It was sad leaving without saying thanks to the fans and everyone that supported me all of those years.”

Van Nistelrooy left United for Real Madrid and then joined Hamburg before retiring in the summer after a year at Malaga.

He said: “It’s my first year not playing in 20 seasons but I’m enjoying it.

“I don’t miss playing because I went right through to the end and realised enough was enough.”

But RVN cannot believe Ryan Giggs — who is 39 tomorrow — still has not hung up his boots.

He added: “My first game was his testimonial against Celtic! That was in 2001 and he’s up for another one!”

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Wayne Rooney warning over Hammers ace

Burly striker Carroll is expected to line up for West Ham as the East Londoners head to Old Trafford for tomorrow night’s league clash. Rooney knows the pony-tailed powerhouse well from England duty and says his defensive colleagues must be mindful of the £35million man’s capabilities. The United ace said: “Andy Carroll is a handful. “I am sure if you ask any defender, they find it difficult to play against someone like that who is good in the air and on the floor. “He is physical and makes it hard for opponents. “That type of player doesn’t always get all the goals but they can cause trouble up front and create problems. “I am sure that is what Sam Allardyce wants him to do.” Carroll is an obvious threat given United’s Achilles heel of conceding the first goal.

It has happened on an incredible 13 occasions this season, including in their last five games. United have somehow managed to clamber to the top of the table despite managing just a single clean sheet, against Wigan at Old Trafford in September. It is a record Rooney accepts must be rectified if United are going to maintain their present status. He explained: “Clean sheets are the foundation we try and achieve because we have plenty of players who can score goals and win games.

“As a team we are playing some good stuff at times but we are having to grind out results as well. “Losing three games already is something we need to put right. “We have been lucky that we haven’t drawn any matches and we need to kick on from here and go on a good run.”

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Pep Guardiola wants Man Utd job

Blues owner Roman Abramovich is hoping the former Barcelona chief will take over at Stamford Bridge next summer. 

But Guardiola, who is on a year’s sabbatical in New York, fancies moving in at Old Trafford when Alex Ferguson retires.

That could be at the end of this season.If not, Guardiola would be prepared to hold out for another year.Fergie and Guardiola are close friends and have met privately in New York.A source close to Guardiola said: “The whole history of Manchester United, his relationship with Sir Alex and the way the club is run appeals to Pep.“Right now I’d be astonished if he went to Chelsea. He really wants to wait for the United job even if it means extending his time out of the game.”Guardiola wants to be able to concentrate on all aspects of the football club without interference from above.Red Rom’s constant hiring and firing of managers — interim chief Rafa Benitez is his ninth boss in a decade — does not appeal.

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Anders upset with defeat

Anders Lindegaard has urged United to get back to winning ways on Saturday against QPR after consecutive defeats without scoring a goal.

The Dane was beaten by Norwich winger Anthony Pilkington's superb header at the weekend and had no chance with Burak Yilmaz's winner for Galatasaray. Despite an impressive display by the keeper, and the team in general, Lindegaard found it hard to take too many positives from another reverse.

"We've lost two games in a row," he told MUTV. "I played two games in a row and we've lost two games in a row. It's very hard to find smiles about anything or a positive side.

"We have an important game on Saturday against QPR and need to get back on track."

Lindegaard admits the incredible atmosphere at the Turk Telekom Arena affected his performance, even though he pulled off a string of fine saves.

"It was quite a special atmosphere to play in," he admitted. "Very hectic, very noisy and loud. You can't really communicate on the field by yelling and talking. You need to be more visual.

"At times, obviously it was very difficult for me. It's a way of keeping me on my toes and keeping myself in the game communicating, even though they can't hear me! So I was being more visual and showing where I wanted the ball and what kind of pass I was giving - whether they should turn on it or play it back.

"I think Phil [Jones] did well. He showed he's on the way back and he's an important player for us. He's going to be very important in the next couple of months when we have plenty of games coming up."

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Jones impresses Carrick

Michael Carrick was pleased to see Phil Jones return to action in the 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray.
Jones played alongside Carrick at the heart of the defence and the duo defended stoutly throughout, only for Burak Yilmaz to head the winner from a second-half corner.
"He's been off for a while and it's not easy to come back in a game like that - especially with me playing alongside him!" the former Tottenham midfielder told MUTV. "He's not got someone like Rio [Ferdinand], Jonny [Evans] or Vida [Nemanja Vidic] next to him so he did ever so well and helped me out a few times."
Carrick feels the Reds, already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, can afford to take the positives despite being unlucky to lose.
"It's disappointing to lose the game because we don't like losing games," he stressed. "But there were a lot of positives, especially in the first half. We played some good football at times, it was just that the final ball didn't fall for us as we could've easily scored.
"The way the younger lads went about it with the crowd and whole occasion, it didn't affect them, and I'm sure they would have gained from that and we can move on and be better for it.
"Of course, in many ways the main work was done to get us through. We're still disappointed coming away not getting anything from the game but, at the end of the day, we're through and we need to kick on with our league form really."

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Cristiano Ronaldo Return to Manchester United

Sir Alex Ferguson admits he'd "like to think" Cristiano Ronaldo could one day return to Manchester United - but concedes any club would face a difficult task in luring the Portuguese goal machine away from Real Madrid.
The former Old Trafford star is due to fly into Manchester on Tuesday, ahead of his current club's UEFA Champions League clash with City at the Etihad Stadium. United fans still chant his name and he's likely to receive a warm welcome from any Reds he meets on the trip.
"He’s an unbelievable player," stated Sir Alex. "One of the best, no doubt about that. We have had a great pantheon of players but no question Ronaldo compares with any of them. In his last season, he made five chances every match - he's a brilliant player."
When asked if he regrets not inserting a buy-back option in Ronaldo's sale, Sir Alex laughed: "How do you know I haven't? He always wanted to play for Real, it was a boyhood dream, but I’m not saying he’ll stay there forever. He might leave, you never know."
It was suggested that the door is always open to a sensational return to United.
"I don’t think it’ll happen but I would like to think it would [be]," Sir Alex admitted. "We’d be talking incredible amounts of money now. What do you think his value would be? He’s never injured. When does he ever miss a game? Who could afford him? One of the Russian clubs could buy him but do you think he’d go to Russia? He complained about the weather here so imagine him in the middle of winter in Russia!
"I speak to Cristiano quite regularly. He’s always available to talk to, and he’s always wishing us well. I think our result is the first one he looks for, no doubt about that."

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From Braga with Love

 

Mike Phelan cited second-half changes for the reason behind United's late surge to victory in Braga. Trailing the Portuguese side by a single goal as the game was unexpectedly hit by floodlight failure, the Reds were forced into replacing the injured Jonny Evans with Rio Ferdinand, then introduced Robin van Persie in place of Danny Welbeck. An out-of-sorts display was forgotten after 80 minutes when the Dutchman levelled, before a Wayne Rooney penalty and Chicharito's close-range effort sealed an unlikely victory. "It is a little bit surprising that we have scored three goals here tonight," Phelan told journalists at the post-match press conference. "In the first half we were not really doing anything in the game other than keeping possession of the ball.

"Possibly with the way the evening panned out – with the lights going out and the heavy rain, and then us having to make a quick substitution, bringing Rio Ferdinand on – I think that changed things for us, with the tempo of our game going up. "Robin was instrumental in getting us further up the field. We played a little bit more in behind their midfield once Robin came on, and obviously he took his goal really well." A fourth straight Group H victory guarantees United's progress to the knockout stage as group winners, underlining an immaculate response to last season's disappointing relegation to the Europa League. "Our intention this year was to get into [the knockout phase] very quickly," Phelan said. "We were disappointing last year – the players and staff knew that, and I think the supporters wanted a reaction to that. "I think it was really important that we got into it quickly and we have done that – four games gone and we are more than happy with it." Sir Alex had admitted that early qualification would allow him some much-needed squad rotation in the final group games against Galatasaray and Cluj, but Phelan insists United will still respect the ramifications of those games for the remaining three sides in Group H.

"It does now give us that opportunity to have a look at a couple of other players on this stage, and I am sure we will do that," he said, "but we have to give credit to the competition as well. "And as Manchester United we will do that. But it was important we got the job done as quickly as possible, in order for us to concentrate on the Premier League."

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Gunning for Manager

 

Ole Gunner Solskjaer says he dreams of becoming Manchester United manager one day. " I'm not naive enough to say I can do that job but in life you should have big dreams and big goals."

Manchester United captain Patrice Evra has likened Robin van Persie's class and touch to that of former United great Ruud van Nistelrooy.

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Young Eyes Victory

Ashley Young says victory over Arsenal at the weekend would be “massive” and would set the Reds up nicely for a testing few weeks at home and abroad.
Sir Alex’s men face four consecutive away games, in the league and Champions League, after Saturday’s Old Trafford meeting with the Gunners and, after picking up an important three points at league leaders Chelsea last Sunday, Young says United are determined to follow it with a positive result against another of their big rivals.
“Winning on Saturday would be massive,” the winger told ManUtd.com. “We want to stay in touching distance with the other teams at the top so we know Saturday is vitally important. We got the win last week against Chelsea and if we can kick on tomorrow and win again it sets us up for the next few weeks.
“When you think of Arsenal teams normally you think of them passing non-stop and pretty much passing their way to the goal. But I think they have got stronger physically this season and they look very motivated. We can’t concentrate too much on them though, it’s important we focus on ourselves and make sure we’re on top of our game.” Last season’s corresponding fixture ended emphatically in United’s favour following an 8-2 win for the Reds, which also included Young’s first goals for the club.
“I have good memories of the game last season,” beamed the 27-year-old. “I obviously got the two goals, my first two United goals, which was special. We scored eight that day, but we know it’ll be a tough game on Saturday, and if we can just score one and get the three points then that will be the most important thing. We’re all looking forward to it.”

Young is delighted to be back in action after a frustrating two-month spell in the treatment room. The winger returned in last weekend’s win at Chelsea and he’s thoroughly enjoying being part of a side so fluent in attack. “It’s brilliant to see us scoring so many goals. As a winger that’s what you want, you want that freedom to go and attack and destroy defences,” he added. “When you’ve got players in the team like we’ve got with so many different options it’s amazing to see. I certainly wouldn’t want to be a defender when you see the different combinations we can have! It’s always nice when you have so many different options and when we attack we always look like we’re going to score.”
The man who has found the net more times than anyone else for the Reds this season, Robin van Persie, comes up against his former team on Saturday. And Young has nothing but praise for the contribution the Dutchman has made already this term. “Robin is a world-class player - he’s in the team to score goals and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” says Young. "His all-round work-rate and his effort on the pitch are fantastic and he’s scoring goals. He’s someone who can link up with any of the players and he’s been brilliant since he arrived.”

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Cup Loss Tough to Take

Ryan Giggs, The Living Legend

Ryan Giggs admitted United's Capital One Cup defeat at Chelsea was "tough to take", but the veteran took a lot of heart from the performances of some of the squad's younger members. While the likes of Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Anderson and Nani brought a wealth of experience to the Reds' side, Sir Alex also included a number of his rising stars, namely Michael Keane, Scott Wootton and, from half-time, Nick Powell.United were just seconds away from going through to the next round of the competition, but an injury-time Chelsea penalty sent the entertaining clash into extra-time with the Blues eventually running out 5-4 winners.

"It's tough to take," Giggs told MUTV afterwards. "When you score four goals away from home more often than not you win the game, but it just seems to be one of those weeks in the Cup. "We had the game in the bag with seconds to go. We had the ball deep in their half, lost it and they went up the other end and got the penalty. When it goes to extra-time it's anyone's game. "I'm proud of the young players who played though - there were some great performances. They will have learnt a lot and you learn more from losing as well. You try and take the positives from a game like that but there are a lot of disappointed lads in there and rightly so because they put in good performances. But they'll learn from it and the experience they'll gain from this is more than they could ever get from a Reserve game."Out of the two sides they probably had the most experienced players with a lot of quality to come off the bench. They had to stick all their big guns on in the end to make an impact which they did."As I said though I'm proud of the young players - they never stopped battling. We're just disappointed to put on a good performance, score four goals and come away with nothing."

Having played over 917 matches for the Reds you'd have thought Giggs would have seen it all in his career, but he admitted afterwards that, even now, the beautiful game still never ceases to amaze you. "After seeing the Reading/Arsenal game last night nothing should surprise you in football!" he joked. "It was unbelievable and it was similar tonight. "You've got to be prepared for anything and fight right to the end. Unfortunately it wasn't to be for us. We put so much effort in but we go home disappointed and feel completely different to Sunday [after the league win over Chelsea]."But we'll take the loss and look forward to the rest of the season because there are plenty of positives to take going forward."

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Sir Alex Laments Late Lapse

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted fans at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night witnessed “a terrific game of football” but bemoaned Manchester United's failure to see out the game in the dying seconds of normal time. The Reds took the lead three times against Chelsea in the Capital One Cup fourth round tie before eventually losing the match 5-4 after extra-time. But the additional period – forced by the hosts' equaliser from the penalty spot in the fourth minute of added time – should never have been needed, according to Sir Alex.

“We gave the ball away for the third goal,” he said. “We were in complete control of the match at that point, playing really good football and all we needed to do was see the game out and keep possession.

“Nani decided to try and beat a player, lost the ball and we ended up conceding a penalty kick.

“It's disappointing [to go out]. Some of our football was terrific. “Our counter-attacking was very good, but if you are winning 3-2 in the final seconds of the game then you should see it out. We only have ourselves to blame, really.”

 

Nani wasn’t the only player to make an error that led to a goal. Alexander Buttner and Scott Wootton both conceded penalties, and Wootton’s soft header back to goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard at the beginning of extra-time allowed Daniel Sturridge to pounce and put Chelsea ahead. “We took a gamble in terms of the centre-backs,” Sir Alex conceded. “It's very difficult because one's 19 [Michael Keane] and one's 20 [Wootton]. It's not easy.“You can always get away with playing young forwards but playing young central defenders away from home, in a game of that magnitude, is going to make for a difficult night. That's how it proved.“They'll learn from the experience but nonetheless it was a hard night for them.

“From a spectator's point of view it was a terrific game of football. You're getting your money's worth with nine goals, there's no doubt about that!”

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London Bridge Must Falling Down Again

Sir Alex Ferguson has outlined United's aims to follow up the weekend win at Chelsea by knocking the Londoners out of the Capital One Cup.

Although the competition may not be viewed by some as a priority for the Reds, the club have enjoyed an excellent record in recent years and it enables the boss to hand game-time to fringe members of his squad and promising youngsters.

With another huge Barclays Premier League encounter to come in an early kick-off on Saturday, against an Arsenal side buoyed by the remarkable 7-5 win at Reading, there will be changes but the manager is clear on his objective.

"Obviously, we'll make changes for Wednesday," he informed MUTV. "The squad that played against Newcastle will be in place again. I think I will make some changes there but not a lot as we don't want to lose down there anyway. We want to continue in the Cup but there will still be some changes."

The fourth round tie looks like coming too soon for defenders Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

"Chris has been doing training with us back on the football side of it and we'll try and push him on quickly," added Sir Alex. "But I don't think he'll make the midweek game at Chelsea, although I'm sure he'll be ready for the following week.

"Phil Jones maybe needs another week on the physical part before he can train with us but the good news is he's not far away."

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Chicharito's Confession

Javier Hernandez

Javier Hernandesz accepted he might have been offside after scoring the decisive third goal for Manchester United in a controversial 3-2 win over Chelsea.The Stamford Bridge faithful were in for a horror show from the referees, after Mark Clattenburg sent off Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres - the second a very harsh one for diving.After going down to nine men, Chelsea lost any chances of getting a winning result, with United wearing them down and earning a 3-2 win, to pull to within one point of the league leaders.

Hernandez looked at the assistant referee immediately after scoring the winner, and later admitted he was worried about being called offside. "Probably. I think it's a habit that I have to look to the linesman," Hernadez told Sky Sports.

"It was a really difficult game because the final part of the first half they came on, but we were lucky we scored the last goal. Every time we play with our rivals to win the Premier League, every game is tough, so we're very happy we got the three points."
Hernandez chose to not focus on all the controversies, instead focusing on the vital victory. "We don't care," he said of the manner of the victory. "We win, we have the three points.
"That was the only thing we had on our mind. Probably for some people it was very controversial, for other people not. "For us, we won the three points and it is very difficult to come here to Stamford Bridge and take the three points, and we're very lucky and happy with that."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was full of praise for the Mexican, who scored his second straight winner after his two-goal effort against Braga in the Champions League. "You want to win the big games and Chelsea hadn't lost a match and are top of the league so it was an important win," Ferguson told the club's official website. "We could've been four-up as we had some fantastic football through Rafael and Antonio (Valencia) and we tore them apart on that side. I think they took a long time to get their game going but I was worried in the 15-minute period before half-time."We could've started the game a bit better in the second half but started to play better when they got their second goal. It was a wake-up call to be honest.
"At that point, I had Chicharito warming up and then they had a man sent off so it consolidated that opinion to bring him on. He's brilliant in there. He took a lot of punishment too."There were a lot of tackles against him but he's such a courageous little lad, such a tough, wee cookie, and he's always going to be a threat to defenders. He's scored the winning goal in an important game."

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Red Card Blues for Torres

A beautiful dive from Torres..I give 10 point

Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has declared that Chelsea striker Fernando Torres took a dive on Sunday.The Spanish international striker was sent off after going down under Evans’ challenge in the second-half of United’s 3-2 win. “At the time I didn’t feel like I’d made contact,” he said.

“I’ve seen it again and there was a bit of contact but I didn’t feel like it was enough to bring him down. I think he probably realised he wasn’t getting the ball, he’s gone down and I think the referee’s made the right decision and sent him off.”

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The Happy Hand

See..i'm very happy

 Goalkeeper David de Gea, 21, insists he is happy at Manchester United and is not looking to return to Spanish footbal, despite reported interest from Real Madrid.

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