One United

Really looking forward on the match against Roma. Have lots of eXpectations.

This year they have every chance to win ECC, van d s, evra-ferdinand-vidic, anderson-hargreevs-schols,ronaldo-nani-gigs-park,tevez-roony. each and every department inform. They all are capable of turn the match in favor of manu. even brown can score some goals.

On a day when Arsenal showed a flicker of hope remains in their title bid, United sent an emphatic message to the Gunners and fellow rivals Chelsea.

With goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and, most pleasingly, two for Wayne Rooney, United beat Aston Villa comprehensively and conclusively. It ended 4-0, but that figure could have been significantly higher. This was, quite simply, one of the Reds’ best performances of the season. With six games to go, it's a resounding statement of intent.

Nothing was lacking. Goals, skill, determination, and sumptuous football at times. Villa couldn’t live with United. They arrived without a win at Old Trafford in 25 years (they won 2-1 in November 1983) and on a run of 13 straight defeats against the Reds.

Martin O’Neill signalled his intentions to end a recent run that has seen Villa collect just two points from their last four games. He paired power with more power in the form of John Carew and Marlon Harewood up front, and rapid runners Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor on either flank. With Arsenal earlier in the day coming back from 2-0 down to beat Bolton 3-2, the Reds knew the significance of maintaining their record against Villa.

There could be no time to bask in the afterglow of last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Liverpool - not least because it was extinguished by the heavy rain throughout. The weather brought a zip to the surface, and a speed to both teams' play.

Villa threatened first when Wes Brown blocked Ashley Young’s goal-bound volley. It led to
a couple of corners for the visitors, an early warning of one of Villa’s best attacking options.

Rooney led United’s early attacking forays, his cross after five minutes causing Nigel Reo-Coker to head behind for a corner, from which his stunning volley was only prevented from bursting the net by Martin Laursen’s brave defending. Cristiano Ronaldo had a volley of his own saved by Scott Carson. From the resulting corner Brown - clearly with a taste for glory after his goal against Liverpool - saw his header go narrowly over the bar.

On 17 minutes the breakthrough arrived. Ronaldo, who else? And this must go down as one of the cheekiest of his 35 goals this term. After Gareth Barry and Wilfred Bouma failed to clear a corner, the ball fell to Ronaldo. With his back to goal he decided, rather than wasting time by turning to shoot, to backheel the ball through Martin Laursen’s legs and past Carson.

What is pleasing about Ronaldo is that, considering the frequency with which he finds the net, his joy at scoring never diminishes. He celebrates every goal as if it were a rarity. The Portuguese winger didn’t let some heavy tackles stop him playing, and provided the assist for United’s second goal on 33 minutes. Tevez - a bundle of energy chasing every cause - started the move which also involved Rooney and Scholes and finished it with a diving header at the far post from Ronaldo's delightful cross. Great goal. Glorious football. Villa’s defenders could only stand and admire.

At the start of the second half it was a case of keeping up
the momentum and the enthralling football of the first 45 minutes. United immediately had the chance to score. After a neat one-two with Tevez, Rooney was one-on-one with Carson. Everyone in the ground was willing the ball to go in, but it went agonisingly past the the post. Rooney must have felt as if he'd never score.

Villa weren't out of it, though. Pouncing on a rare defensive mix-up, Shaun Maloney found himself clean through. But the winger, a first-half substitute for the injured Carew, also hit his shot wide. As the following minutes proved, Villa’s big chance to get back into the game had gone begging.

At the other end, Ronaldo latched onto Scholes’ cross, but his volley deflected off Laursen and the crossbar. Then came the moment just about every United fan had wanted: Rooney's first league goal at home since October. Ronaldo backheeled the ball into Rooney’s path and the Reds forward rounded Carson, with Old Trafford holding its breath, and tapped the ball home. The roar of relief and jubiliation could have lifted the roof off.

Villa, to their credit, kept going. Kuszczak was forced into a great save from Maloney’s curling effort, tipping the ball onto the crossbar. The woodwork was taking a hammering as Rooney went close to his second after 65 minutes, his shot from 18 yards clipping the outside of the post.

The striker did grab his brace five minutes later as Ronaldo’s delightful nutmeg found Rooney to his left inside the box. With the wait for his first goal over, there was no nervousness, only a calm and assured finish inside Carson’s near post. Rooney was denied a hat-trick after turning home substitute Owen Hargreaves’ cross. However, the linesman had correctly ruled he was fractionally offside. No matter, there was enough to savour in an exemplary performance which takes United one step closer to retaining the title. There's still work to be done, but on this form the Reds have every reason to feel optimistic.

Team Line-ups

Manchester United: Kuszczak; Brown, Ferdinand (Hargreaves 61), Vidic, Evra
(O’Shea 61); Ronaldo, Carrick (Anderson 61), Scholes, Giggs; Tevez, Rooney.
Subs not used: Foster, Park.
Booked: Vidic

Aston Villa: Carson; Bouma (Osbourne 80), Mellberg, Laursen; Agbonlahor,
Reo-Coker, Barry, Petrov, Young; Carew (Maloney 42), Harewood (Salifou 69).
Subs not used: Taylor, Knight.

BANGLADESH Standard Time - Wednesday, April 02, 2008 12:45:00 AM

The Match against Roma is something for which Im waiting for like Months!
And now the Form man U have and Last year's History colored it MORE.
Hell, IM LOVING IT.
Its tonite 11.50 PM BDT.
Every Man U Fan should watch it. This one is gonna be Cracking. Its not that Man U got a Clear Win ticket. But this would be a Hell of a Match. In-Form Man U and "Nemesis" Roma. lol.

yes this will be a hit match, waiting for this.

Man Utd 2 - 0 Roma......... yehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Report: Roma 0 United 2

United delivered the model European away performance in Rome on Tuesday– strong in possession, resilient during the inevitable Roma backlash, and ruthlessly scoring two away goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney did the damage, presenting the Reds with a glorious opportunity to make the Champions League semi finals later this month. But, take note, the job is only half done. Roma weren’t without their chances, and they will come to Old Trafford in a week’s time knowing they’re up against it, but not out of it.

This wasn’t the all-out attacking United of Saturday’s 4-0 thumping of Aston Villa, but it was the kind of performance Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have sometimes lacked away from home in Europe in recent years.

The United boss made a few changes from Saturday's win. He was able to select Michael Carrick despite the midfielder sitting out training in Rome the night before. There was a recall for Ji-sung Park (his first European start this season) in place of Ryan Giggs, and Carlos Tevez settled for a place on the bench as Anderson made up a three-man central midfield alongside Carrick and Paul Scholes.

Luciano Spalletti, Roma’s coach, said that his players would not just stand and admire a team he regards as “the best in the world”. Their 7-1 defeat at this stage last year is clearly a wound that has not yet healed. So much so that Spalletti threatened not to present Sir Alex with a bottle of his favourite Tuscan wine after the game – “no more gifts, on or off the pitch,” he said, half jokingly.

Roma, without the suspended Simone Perrotta and the injured Francesco Totti, were perhaps not at full strength, but their team ethic meant that they still pose a potent threat to United's hopes of reaching the semi finals.

The Reds had hoped to avoid an English opponent at this stage, but nevertheless drew a familiar foe – this being the fifth time in 12 months that the Reds have come up against the Giallorossi.

United started with Rooney on the left, Park on the right and Cristiano Ronaldo up front and immediately took control in the early stages, pressing Roma back and keeping possession with great assurance, albeit without really breaking beyond the opposition back line.

But it was Roma who registered the first effort on goal, defender Christian Panucci heading over from a corner. The chance signalled their entrance into this tie. The bad news for United was that Nemanja Vidic was forced off just after half an hour after falling awkwardly. The influential Serbian defender was replaced by John O’Shea in the centre of United’s defence.

The enforced change momentarily flustered the Reds, as Roma pushed forward. But United were not affected for long. With little more than five minutes of the first half remaining, an intricate move across the edge of Roma’s penalty area found Scholes on the far right side. The midfielder, once again in outstanding form, served up a cross and Ronaldo bravely ran and leapt at it through a crowd of Roma shirts, powering his header into the back of the net. It capped a near-perfect first 45 minutes.

After the break, Roma were far more ambitious – they had to be - and, as in the first half, had the first opportunity to score. De Rossi’s surging run forward created space in the box and his pass to Tonetto allowed the full-back to shoot narrowly past the post. Just moments later, with the home crowd stirred at their team’s positive approach, Panucci fired over at the back post. United were having to weather a severe storm. On 62 minutes Edwin van der Sar was called upon to make a world-class, one-handed save from Vucinic’s glanced header.

Sir Alex responded immediately, calling for the combative Owen Hargreaves to replace the more forward-thinking Anderson and switching to 4-4-2 with Rooney the advanced striker. Spalletti, sensing the need to capitalise on the groundswell of pressure, also made a change, bringing on speedy winger Ludovic Giuly. But it was the Reds manager’s tactical tinkering that had the bigger impact.

Spalletti had warned United that there would be no gifts, but his players must not have been paying attention. On 66 minutes Park did brilliantly to head Brown’s deep cross back across the face of goal. Either Panucci or Doni should have cleared the danger, instead both tried. And when they tangled the ball landed at Rooney’s feet, the United forward gladly taking the opportunity to make it 2-0.

The goal completely changed United’s outlook, and with Rooney taking up more central role, Roma looked threatened. Seconds later Ronaldo was on the run and forced Doni to tip his 20-yard shot onto the post. Then Carrick struck from a similar distance, though his effort curled away from goal.

Sir Alex was able to take off Rooney with six minutes of the tie remaining, once again showing the strength of his squad in bringing on Tevez. The Argentine nearly set up a glorious third, crossing for Ronaldo who sent a rasping volley narrowly over the bar. There could be no complaints, however, United gladly take a two-goal advantage into the second leg, 90 minutes from a place in the last four.

Team Line-ups

Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic (O'Shea 31), Evra; Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson (Hargreaves 55), Park; Rooney (Tevez 84).
Subs not used: Kuszczak, Giggs, Pique, Silvestre.
Booked: Anderson

AS Roma: Doni; Cassetti, Mexes, Panucci, Tonetto (Cicinho 69); Taddei (Giuly 59), De Rossi, Pizarro, Aquilani (Esposito 77), Mancini; Vucinic.
Subs not used: Curci, Antunes, Ferrari, Brighi.
Booked: Pizarro, Mexes

Next Leg : UNITED V Roma

BANGLADESH (Dhaka)

Thursday, April 10, 2008 12:45:00 AM

Another Grand Slam is coming Man U v Arsenal, Today Arsenal drawn with Liverpool and out of title race I think. But I dont understand why Rafael no placed Torres and voronin in the 1st eleven even Gerard Too.