EPL: Scum vs Geordies

Kuali Baba SG

Scum = Man Utd Razz

It's on ESPN this Sunday at 9.30pm. It's a fixture we've not won for 34 years...and are going to make right. Mr. Green

HOWAY THE LADS!

798 SG

Jiayou!!! Magpies!!! Laughing

contact1 SG

m,y foot maggies is going to win this fix...

but they sure will give van der sar a hard evening

3-0

iveco SG

VAN NISTELROOY MAY RETURN

Ruud van Nistelrooy is hoping to secure a place in the Manchester United starting line-up to face Newcastle United in the Barclays Premiership on Sunday.

The Holland international striker surprisingly found himself on the bench for both the Carling Cup and Barclays Premiership triumphs over Wigan Athletic, although his introduction did inspire a Red Devils comeback at the JJB Stadium on Monday.

If Van Nistelrooy does return, it could be at the expense of John O'Shea as Sir Alex Ferguson toys with the idea of dropping Wayne Rooney into a slightly more withdrawn role in midfield.

Quinton Fortune has returned to training after suffering only a minor knee injury in a reserve-team outing at Middlesbrough in midweek.

Carlos Queiroz believes Uniteds Barclays Premiership rivals are finally starting to recognise that Chelsea are not invincible after all.

A three-goal hammering at Middlesbrough last month was part of a run that brought Jose Mourinho's side just two wins from six games, while Barcelona proved too good for the Londoners in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Even the Blues' recent victories over relegation-threatened Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion have been unconvincing.

So, while Queiroz is not predicting any great dramatic change in fortune during this seasons title race, he does believe attitudes in the top flight are changing.

We didnt have to wait for Chelsea to play Barcelona to realise they are not invincible because we played them once this season already and beat them, said the United assistant boss.

But, watching Chelsea over the last four or five games, it seems other teams are beginning to think they can do something against them too.

You have to give Chelsea a lot of credit because they already have 72 points this season, but teams are starting to find a way of creating problems for them and things are starting to change.

Currently 15 points adrift of the Stamford Bridge outfit, United know even their game in hand will be rendered insignificant unless Mourinhos men meet more unexpected trouble.

By the standards of past seasons, even beating Liverpool to the runners-up spot would be seen as a failure by some.

But Queiroz feels fans must also accept the wider picture, which depicts a campaign blighted by injury, the latest of which saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ruled out with a broken cheekbone.

When you think about the expectations of a great club like Manchester United, we are not happy, he said.

We want more, the fans want more and we think we can do more.

But you have to look at the situation realistically. We started the season with 24 players, yet for six or seven games, we only had 12 or 13 to choose from.

There is nothing wrong with the size of our squad but you cannot control injuries and we have lost important players like Paul Scholes, Gabriel Heinze, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville for long periods.

This club exists to win championships and other trophies. We would like to have done better but when you take everything into consideration, if we can get a minimum 28 points from our remaining 11 games we will still have had a good season.

Magpies boss Glenn Roeder believes Michael Owen cares just as much about Newcastle as he does about England.

The 26-year-old is currently fighting for fitness after suffering a fractured metatarsal in the 2-0 Barclays Premiership defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on December 31.

He is desperate to make the England squad for this summers World Cup Finals and is confident of doing so, but the Magpies caretaker manager insists rumours that the striker's club commitments come second are nonsense.

You hear rumblings around the place that hes more interested in playing for England than Newcastle, said Roeder.

Well, thats rubbish, absolute rubbish. Michael cannot wait to get back in the black and white shirt and do his stuff for us, which is scoring goals.

Thereafter, of course he knows theres the World Cup in the summer, and having been to one myself in France 98, its the most wonderful tournament to be involved in and he should rightly be excited about the World Cup.

But he knows first things first, and thats playing for Newcastle again.

Owens rehabilitation is continuing apace despite suggestions, denied by St James Park, that he had suffered a setback this week.

However, Roeder once again played down claims the 26-year-old could be ready for the FA Cup quarter-final trip to Chelsea at the end of this month.

First of all, he hasnt suffered a setback, he said. I dont know where that rumour came from.

We are now in a different era from the bucket of water and cold sponge treatment of injuries.

From the moment he got injured, we had a programme mapped out for him. In that programme, he has scans and X-rays along the way and Monday was one of those that has always been mapped out.

We feel we know where Michael is at the moment in terms of when he will make a comeback - you can be that accurate nowadays - so its probably unlikely that hell make the Chelsea game.

But nevertheless, I think hes going to be fit to play plenty of games for Newcastle this season before he moves on to the World Cup.

England midfielder Kieron Dyer is another man on the mend as he attempts to recover from his latest hamstring problem.

Dyer stepped up his training this week, and although he is unlikely to figure at Old Trafford, he could return for the home clash with Liverpool next Sunday.

Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Howard, Neville, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Brown, Vidic, Silvestre, Evra, Richardson, Ronaldo, Giggs, O'Shea, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Saha, Rossi.

Newcastle United (from): Given, Harper, Ramage, Babayaro, Boumsong, Elliott, Parker, Emre, Solano, NZogbia, Bowyer, Faye, Clark, Brittain, Pattison, OBrien, Shearer, Ameobi, Luque, Chopra.

iveco SG

Wayne Rooney's first-half double proved enough to give Manchester United a Barclays Premiership victory over Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
Rooney took advantage of a Peter Ramage mistake to put the hosts in front, then doubled Uniteds lead with a blistering finish not long afterwards.

United should have added to their tally during a one-sided encounter, but Rooney wasted the best of a succession of golden opportunities when he rounded Shay Given but chipped his shot against a post.

After signing his five-book deal, Rooney is clearly under orders to find some material. And his first-half display warrants a chapter on its own.

Within 12 minutes, the 20-year-old had scored twice. He might have had a hat-trick inside quarter of an hour and with his final kick of the half, he poleaxed his captain Gary Neville with a ferocious volley which sent the United man to the floor in theatrical fashion and left him ruefully clutching his jaw as he made his way to the dressing rooms.

Had Rooneys team-mates showed the same clinical instincts, Glenn Roeder could have had no complaints if Newcastle had been five behind at the break.

Louis Saha, once again preferred to Ruud van Nistelrooy, had two golden opportunities but spurned them both, initially through a heavy first-touch, then a weak shot.

Park Ji-Sung ballooned an excellent opportunity over and John OShea appeared to trip over his own feet as a pass rolled unexpectedly into his path inside the Newcastle box.

Even Rooney was guilty on a couple of occasions, although his wondrous talent had already left the visitors on the ropes.

Given how events were to unfold, Rooney did not need the present Ramage provided him with after just eight minutes.

Under pressure from Mikael Silvestre by the touchline, Ramage opted to play a blind pass to Given instead of taking the obvious option of booting the ball out of play.

Unfortunately for the full-back, Rooney had read his intentions, skipped onto the loose ball, then beat Given with the most delightful of chips.

On pure goalscoring terms alone, there is not much debate between the relative merits of Saha and Van Nistelrooy.

The Dutchman remains top of the Barclays Premiership scoring charts and is only two goals away from becoming the eighth player in United history to hit 150 for the Red Devils.

Saha, though, brings pace and strength and United are arguably a more formidable side as a result.

It was the Frenchmans delicate touch that found OShea, who in turn fed Rooney for number two, a brutal strike after Ramage had been held off with some considerable ease.

From that moment on, it became an almost personal crusade for Rooney to complete his hat-trick.

That it did not come was no reflection on a Newcastle defence outsmarted from start to finish but more because of the boy wonders own fallibility.

The Magpies came out for the second half with more purpose and Lee Bowyer saw his 55th-minute drilled effort pushed around the post by United keeper Edwin van der Sar.

However, the home side continued to open up the Newcastle defence, with Given standing firm as missiles rained in from all angles.

But there was nothing the Irishman could do to deny Rooney his best chance, which came when Jean-Alain Boumsong only succeeded in nodding Wes Browns long punt forward a bit closer to his own goal.

Rooney was onto it in a flash, skipped past Given but chipped his shot onto a post, with Robbie Elliott racing back and getting the slightest of deflections.

Van Nistelrooy eventually made his entrance 15 minutes from time, yet even his predatory instincts let him down as he failed to convert from 10 yards as, not for the first time, Boumsong had found himself outmanoeuvred.

stellazio SG

totally outclassed. Laughing

SBS9828X SG

*close eyes*

aiyaaa pools seem to lost the 2nd place race liao