Scholes still packs a killer punch
-
Scholes signs new deal
Experienced midfielder pens 12-month extension at Old Trafford
"We are delighted Paul is staying on for another year," Ferguson told the club's official website.
"His form this year indicates his ability and his enjoyment of the game are as strong as ever, that's every reason to stay on.
"There was talk about him wanting to retire, but when you see his enjoyment in training and playing you can see how much he wants to carry on."
Scholes has reiterated that he still feels capable of competing at the highest level and has expressed his pleasure at penning a new deal.
He said: "I am pleased to have signed for another year. I am feeling good and enjoying my football.
"I would like to thank the boss, the coaching staff and also the fans for their continued support."
skysports.
-
But we still need to find an able replacement.
Carrick is certainly not the one, Anderson is a crybaby, Gibson likes to take long shots and thats about it for his ability.
Who can replace Scholes?
Yoann Gourcuff? James Milner? Rafael Van Der Vaart? Stephen Ireland?
-
I think Gourcuff might be the most value for money.
-
Wesley Sneijder.
-
Originally posted by McVay:
Wesley Sneijder.
Impossible. He just went from Real Madrid to Inter Milan and Jose wont let him go cheap let alone sell him.
-
Ferguson really too much..............Scholes already 35 liao and still want him to play in the EPL..............no need to embarrass Scholes until like that mah....................
should advise Scholes to go to Milan...................old farts should play with old farts mah...........
i've never seen Liverpool's Luca Leiva play before but he sounds like a player that Man Utd should buy.............
-
Ribery
-
Originally posted by As romanista2001:
Ferguson really too much..............Scholes already 35 liao and still want him to play in the EPL..............no need to embarrass Scholes until like that mah....................
should advise Scholes to go to Milan...................old farts should play with old farts mah...........
i've never seen Liverpool's Luca Leiva play before but he sounds like a player that Man Utd should buy.............
-
Ferguson should ask Rafa to lelong all the Liverpool garbage to him.................what's there to lose ?
he should 1stly sell Owen cheap cheap..................200-300 pounds also let go lah................or sell Berbatov and throw in Owen...............buy 1 get 1 free..........
then sign a few top strikers so no need to depend solely on Rooney..............can sign top scorers from the Bangladeshi, Somali and Nth Korean Leagues.................cheap cheap mah..........if they flop, make them become ball-boys also can..................
Hargreaves also must let go liao..................maybe give Bayern 10 million pounds to take him back.............then look for old folks' home for van der Saar, Scholes and Giggs.....................that's the least Ferguson could do for them...........
-
Originally posted by As romanista2001:
Ferguson should ask Rafa to lelong all the Liverpool garbage to him.................what's there to lose ?
he should 1stly sell Owen cheap cheap..................200-300 pounds also let go lah................or sell Berbatov and throw in Owen...............buy 1 get 1 free..........
then sign a few top strikers so no need to depend solely on Rooney..............can sign top scorers from the Bangladeshi, Somali and Nth Korean Leagues.................cheap cheap mah..........if they flop, make them become ball-boys also can..................
Hargreaves also must let go liao..................maybe give Bayern 10 million pounds to take him back.............then look for old folks' home for van der Saar, Scholes and Giggs.....................that's the least Ferguson could do for them...........
ya and while Ferguson is at it maybe he can get a bed in the same old folks' home for you too but just make sure there is no internet access so that we dun have to read your rubbish
-
Wah Scholes... What a way to celebrate signing his 12-month extension... With a winning goal in an important derby game right at the dead of the match.
-
TEAMtalk feels Paul Scholes showed why he was handed a new one-year contract with his knockout blow for Manchester United at Eastlands.
There is life in the old dog yet - and who better than Paul Scholes to show that you write off Manchester United at your peril?
Just when it looked as though honour would be preserved at Eastlands for both Manchester clubs, but with precious little gained, Scholes - so often the executioner who shatters City's dreams - once more delivered the killer blow.
United were like an old boxer desperate to show the young upstart that he still rules the roost.
The bitter rivals slugged it out toe-to-toe and for much of the match the rugged old pros of United - especially Scholes and Ryan Giggs - gave the City new boys a steady pummelling without ever landing a knock-out punch.
And as City bobbed and weaved, ducked and dived, it looked as though time was beginning to tell on the old king of the ring. But heavyweights such as United have resilience born of years of experience at the top, and Scholes popped up with an injury-time header that left City flat on the canvas.
It was a thrilling end to a match that until then had been anything but.
So much was at stake - a title defence for United and Champions League qualification for City - yet neither seemed prepared to throw caution to the wind in the hope of forcing a decisive outcome.
Even Ferguson admitted afterwards he could not see either side scoring until Scholes planted his header beyond Shay Given from Patrice Evra's cross.
Yet despite the victory, and despite having the better of the match on their rivals' home turf, this match still managed to pose more questions for Ferguson than Roberto Mancini.
Tricky questions too, such as how to stop their reliance on the old guard, and on Wayne Rooney who once again was preferred despite being less than fully fit to Dimitar Berbatov, a man whose body language alone looks to have talked himself into being sold this summer.
If United really are to hold off the challenge from their neighbours then Ferguson needs to carry out some major restructuring work in the summer.
As for the match itself, Manchester derbies have not always been feasts of football, but there have surely been few more tepid encounters than this one.
There were few moments to savour, and some distinctly unsavoury ones such as when Rooney appeared to be guilty of some exaggerated play-acting to get Vincent Kompany booked. The speed with which he got to his feet and ran back into his position served only to illustrate that he cared little that everyone then clearly knew his intention.
City's chances could be counted on one hand, and all came near the end: Craig Bellamy sliced badly wide when he should have passed to an unmarked Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry elected not to shoot when clean through, then Nemanja Vidic came to United's rescue in a crazy goalmouth scramble.
United's pressure was more constant, with Rooney, Giggs and Nani all threatening.
A fully-fit Rooney would probably have scored from his one clear opportunity rather than screwed the shot wide; almost certainly he would have put it on target.
Giggs would have been hugely disappointed that his volley from a position of mouthwatering possibilities did not fly into the back of the net rather than be driven into the turf.
In the end in mattered not - 92 minutes and 43 seconds, always a good time to score.
-
Manchester United's Paul Scholes celebrates his injury-time winner against Manchester City. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/EPA
Their body language said it all. They thumped the ground. They looked to the skies. There is nothing in football as brutal as the stoppage-time winner and at the final whistle the pitch was littered with players on their hands and knees: exasperated, broken, disbelieving. All of them wore blue shirts.
The game had waited a long time for some drama and when it finally arrived it was in the 93rd minute, with the referee Martin Atkinson already checking his watch. For one so small, Paul Scholes has always been magnificent at the art of heading a football. This was classic Scholes: the perfectly timed run, the arched jump, the twisting of the neck muscles and then, finally, that familiar sunrise of a smile.
Was this the moment the title race took another late twist? At the final whistle no one here could truly know the answer to that question, but Gary Neville was running half the pitch towards the away end, pulling deliriously at the badge on his shirt. Wayne Rooney was roaring. These were scenes of wild jubilation. They ran together, cavorting, embracing, with Sir Alex Ferguson doing that curious little war-dance on the touchline. It was reminiscent of that centre-circle dash in Moscow two years ago.
It had been a poor game, pockmarked with mistakes, as these matches often are, but United were marginally the better team. City looked tentative at times and they might have to be more adventurous in their last four games if they are to finish in fourth position and reach the Champions League qualifiers. Kirk Bradley, the 26-year-old fan, who has a tattoo commemorating City as the "2010-11 Champions League winners" might regret that decision one day.
Perhaps they might have penetrated the United defence more had they exploited Craig Bellamy's pace against Gary Neville. Or maybe the credit should go to the visiting defenders. Carlos Tevez buzzed around and Emmanuel Adebayor toiled away. But the three did not combine as they have recently against lesser opposition. Bellamy, in particular, had a disappointing game, although, in mitigation, it was a common theme for the front players from both sides. This was one of those games when, for long spells, the more effective players were tacklers such as Nigel de Jong and Darren Fletcher or defensive stoppers such as Vincent Kompany and Nemanja Vidic.
The Premier League is so fast these days it can be like watching ice hockey on grass at times. Scholes seemed to be the only player who realised that sometimes it can be of benefit to put your foot on the ball and slow everything down – pick out the pass, spread the play. Ryan Giggs, with a proud record of having featured in every Manchester derby since making his debut, also brought a measure of poise and Dimitar Berbatov did well when he came on but there was no doubting the identity of the best player: cometh the 93rd minute, cometh the little ginger man.
As a spectacle, however, there were too many attacking players, Rooney and Tevez included, who struggled to impose themselves. Perhaps Tevez was trying too hard. As for Rooney, he looked laboured throughout his 74 minutes on the pitch, not as sharp across the first few metres, perhaps only 80% fit. You can always tell when things aren't going well for Rooney when he starts sniping at the referee and he was yapping away at Atkinson for most of the first half.
Atkinson was a strange choice given that he was the referee at the centre of the "Fergie Time" controversy when the teams met at Old Trafford in September. The original choice, Steve Bennett, was abroad, unable to fly back because of the Icelandic volcano eruption, and City had been sufficiently concerned about Atkinson's switch from Stoke against Bolton that they tried to contact the Premier League referees' chief, Mike Riley, to voice their misgivings on Friday afternoon. In other words, Ferguson is not the only practitioner in the art of trying to influence match officials. The biter had been bit – and you can only imagine the eruption from United's manager if Atkinson had made a telling mistake in City's favour.
As it was, Atkinson made a few errors here and there but generally got by without any major controversy and, ironically, his most obvious oversight was not booking Rooney after he had flicked out his leg to trip De Jong. The truth is it has been a bad season for the Premier League's referees but, on this occasion, there was no sense of grievance about the dramatic, late and decisive goal.
-
Originally posted by Saltiga:
ya and while Ferguson is at it maybe he can get a bed in the same old folks' home for you too but just make sure there is no internet access so that we dun have to read your rubbish
HAHA!!!!! Steady..