A Chat With The Opposition: Newcastle United

In light of Manchester United's game at home to Newcastle United this weekend,  @stiuge sat down with Newcastle United fan and blogger Paul @blackwhiterao to talk about the Toon Army’s start to the season.

Click to read more ...

Midfield Maestro the key to United midfield?

Nicolas Gaitan is one of football’s rising stars and it’s no surprise he’s getting lots of attention. He has been heavily linked with a switch to Old Trafford and the Red Devils are keeping their eye on the Argentinean maestro.

Click to read more ...

The emergence of the pint-sized playmaker

There is absolutely nothing better than seeing a wee-man scuttle his way through the midfield with a fine bit of trickery before releasing the marauding front-man to tuck away with a superb finish. And while it may have been a rarity in the Premiership in seasons past, all of a sudden a crop of the technically brilliant play-makers has emerged to light up England’s top league.

Click to read more ...

Beckham’s American odyssey ends with success

Back in 2007, having just won the Spanish League with Real Madrid to end his four year stint with the Spanish giants, David Beckham headed to America to play for LA Galaxy at the age of 32.

Click to read more ...

Why Robben Not Signing For United Was A Blessing In Disguise

Before Wesley Sneijder there was one talented Dutch midfielder who United’s fans were dreaming about seeing at Old Trafford. It might have been Raphael van der Vaart, it certainly wasn’t Andy Van der Meyde (remember him?). Nope, the name on every United’s fans lips at one time was Arjen Robben.

Click to read more ...

Manchester United v Benfica Preview: A Tasty Home Win Awaits

Manchester Untied play Benfica tonight at Old Trafford in our fifth Champions League group-stage game of the season, in what no doubt will be an exciting match of football.

Benfica, Portugal’s first European Champions are a great proud historic club and they’ve shown their quality in the competition so far. In the game at the Estadio da Luz between the two sides, Benfica probably shaded the game in terms of quality and but for some fine saves by Anders Lindegaard would have picked up the win.

Jorge Jesus has built an excellent team in Lisbon that has the right mix of talented young and experienced players. They will go into the game tonight looking to make another impression on the big-stage and gain their club’s first win at Old Trafford at the third attempt following defeats in 2005 and 2006.

After drawing their last game in the competition at home to Basel, Benfica will be looking to secure their passage through to the Last 16 of the competition tonight and can do so if they win the game. Football isn’t that simple though and Sir Alex Ferguson will know a slip-up tonight is not needed ahead of what looks like a tricky final group game for United away to Basel.

So what can we expect from tomorrow’s game. What will be the key battles on the pitch? 

Nemanja Vidic v Oscar Cardozo

United’s captain Nemanja Vidic is a player who loves to have a battle and tonight he will have one up against Benfica’s star striker Oscar Cardozo  who scored in the reverse fixture back in Portugal. Vidic is looking back to his best and needs a dominant performance tonight.

Cardozo will certainly be a tough person to keep out of the game due to his height and power up top. It’s vital he is kept quiet for as much of the game as possible as he’s got the quality to shoot from anywhere and he can bring others into play with his hold-up play.

Michael Carrick v Pablor Aimar

It would be fair to say, judging on just how talented he was as a youngster that Pablo Amiar has nott quite grown into the type of player both in Europe and for his country Argentina that he was expected to have done. Sadly injuries have ruined his career and his spot-light has fallen.

He is still a player who can shine on the big-occasion and has become very popular with Benfica’s fans. It’s fair to say that judging by his form, Michael Carrick’s best days are behind him but with his experience he should be able to track Aimar and keep him quiet.

Wayne Rooney v Luisão

Brazilian defenders have a reputation for not bothering with defending and just wanting to attack. Luisão, Benfica’s giant skipper is an exception to that reputation who just loves to defend, putting his body on the line, leading his team by example at the back.

Despite scoring 11 goals this season in 15 games, Wayne Rooney has been quite quiet recently in front of goal with many pundits worried about his performance levels. He will have to be at his best tonight to get the better of Benfica’s captain who will not be intimidated by him.

---

In terms of a prediction for the game tomorrow, as I stated earlier on in a predictions article, I believe whilst this is going to be a tough game for United, I believe they will beat Benfica 3-1 which will seal their progress through to the Last 16 of the competition.

Benfica will catch the eye though and I do fancy their big striker Cardozo to get on the score-sheet. As for who will score for United, Nani will want to impress against his old club Sporting’s rivals and I can see him playing a hand in two of United’s goals.

Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87

Why Beckham's Been A Success In America!

David Beckham's move to the MLS is something that history will judge as a business decision, but in 2011 an opinion can be formed. In my opinion he has been a success to the game in the US.

Click to read more ...

Rooney Needs To Get Back To His Best, Pronto!

For several weeks now, I have been questioning the form of Wayne Rooney. On Saturday against Swansea, he was selected alongside Chicarito in a 4-4-2 formation. Sir Alex went traditional United: solid back 4, 2 central midfielders, creativity on the right and work-rate on the left.

Click to read more ...

Sunday Morning Update @

Sportswear giant Nike are hot favourites to sign a £10m-a-year deal with owner Mike Ashley to sponsor Newcastle United's ground.

Click to read more ...

Hypocrisy leaves FA/FIFA battle meaningless"

The latest battle between the FA and FIFA has, once again, quickly degenerated into nothing more than a bum fight whose participants both possess serious problems when it come to credibility and morality.

Click to read more ...

Saturday Morning Round Up@ Wenger rules out Henry move, Italy chase Tevez, Neil Warnock, France, Madrid legend plus more

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has ruled out signing Gunners legend Thierry Henry on loan.

Click to read more ...

Les Blues Dark Horses For Euro’s

The confirmation of the seeding’s for next summer’s European Championships in Poland and Ukraine were announced this week.

Click to read more ...

Chichartio: The Flagship And Idol Of Mexico

On 8th April 2010, Manchester United announced the signing of Javier Hernandez aka Chicharito, to the football world. At that time I presume most United fans were thinking: Who in the hell is this Mexican striker Chicharito?

Click to read more ...

The Answer To United's Midfield Problems Could Be Seydou Keita

Over the last couple of months we have had a quite a few articles on our website to do with Manchester United’s midfield. In particular the one problem area that our writers have been on focusing on is the team’s lack of strength in the heart of midfield.

Click to read more ...

Careers reassessed: Steve Finnan

With some jobs, you can be as good at them as you like but you will never get any type of recognition. Quite the opposite in fact; its only when you screw things up quite horrendously does any attention come your way. Examples of this fact include nuclear safety inspectors, drummers and full backs.

Click to read more ...