North East Rising Sun

Following on from yesterday's Tevez criticism, where I speculated on the reaction if Ronaldo had acted like Tevez to being substituted, here's Henry Winter in today's Telegraph on Nani, not Ronaldo admittedly, being substituted against Spurs:

Take Nani. The underperforming winger convulsed with a brief hissy-fit after being removed at half-time against Spurs with United trailing 2-0.

Couldn't the words "convulsed with a brief hissy-fit" be equally applied to Tevez? They weren't. Not anywhere I looked at anyway. And Henry Winter doesn't even mention Tevez in his article today. He does have a good round-up of what Sir Alex said at the press conference yesterday:

"Sometimes you drive players to the very limit through your motivation and your desires,'' reflected United's relentlessly ambitious manager, a man who revels in a victory for only about 10 minutes.

"But when you have got players that have these personal attributes themselves, who are self-motivated and driven, you have got the right people.''

The right character is evident in the battered and bruised figure of Rio Ferdinand, who tried to run back onto the pitch against Arsenal on Wednesday despite the pain from a rib injury, despite coughing up blood.

"He didn't realise the substitute [Jonny Evans] was on,'' said Ferguson. "I don't think it's allowed to play with 12 men!''

I like this self-important little line from The Mail:

Ferguson also suggested that Saturday's 12.45pm kick-off at the Riverside Stadium will not help his players in advance of Tuesday, saying that teams need at least 72 hours to prepare for matches.

The figures, however, reveal that there are 77 hours between full time at Boro and kick-off on Tuesday.

"Figures"? He must mean looking at his watch and doing some simple maths...
The Independent have the thoughts of Benitez on our penalty last week:

Yes, the penalty Howard Webb awarded Manchester United last Saturday really did sting Rafael Benitez. "The lucky penalty" was the way the Liverpool manager described it yesterday and there is little doubt that thoughts of Manchester United are whirring around at the front of that mechanical mind of his. ...
Sir Alex Ferguson said Benitez should stick to his own knitting when the Spaniard discussed United before their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Chelsea, so he will be irritated to know that Benitez was pointing out why Howard Webb should have realised the challenge by Tottenham Hotspur's Heurelho Gomes on Michael Carrick was legitimate, seven days ago. "When you are running in this way and the ball goes in this way it is because someone has touched it," he said.

I'm sorry? Fairly sure Howard Webb admitted he made a mistake, no need to be quite so patronising about it. Not like Liverpool have never been awarded a dodgy penalty, at least Carrick didn't do a Gerrard dive to win one...
After the FA Cup semi-final we were accused of not taking it seriously, due to our team selection, which (the criticism) was stupid at the time, but is even more stupid now that Sir Alex is thinking of bringing in young players against Boro. This time he's disrespecting ... the other clubs battling relegation:

Sir Alex Ferguson has acknowledged that he is leaving himself open to criticism from the Premier League's relegation-threatened clubs by deciding to make changes to his team for Saturday's game at Middlesbrough. Ferguson is considering giving Federico Macheda his first league start, as well as resting Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo, a decision he knows will go down badly among Middlesbrough's rivals in the contest for survival.

No quotes in the article from any other manager (except from Neil Warnock two years ago...), so whose accusing precisely? And we're hardly going there wanting, or prepared to accept a defeat are we? And The Telegraph point out:

Confident in his players' "courage'', Ferguson promised "some changes'' today as he rests certain luminaries for Tuesday. "I have plenty of fresh players,'' he said, name-checking Scholes and Ryan Giggs while Evans deputises for Ferdinand.

While Darren Fletcher warns against taking the game lightly:

He said: “It is hard to top a Champions League semi-final, but you can’t raise your game for such an occasion and forget about fixtures like Middlesbrough away.

"If you do that, you’ll get hurt. It is why we have to raise our game every time we play.”

Fletcher knows what can happen, having been in the United side that lost 4-1 at Boro in October 2005.

That prompted Roy Keane’s outspoken attack on his teammates and his eventual exit from Old Trafford.

Fletcher said: “I was in the team that lost 4-1 up there. It was very disappointing.”

Meanwhile, Terry Venables finally notices that Rooney sometimes plays on the left for us:

I’m sure there were a few people sniggering in the visitors’ dressing room when the Manchester United striker was again deployed on the left for Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Arsenal at Old Trafford.

But, as the old Frank Sinatra number goes: Ho, ho, ho, who’s got the last laugh now?

And United could be laughing all the way to Rome if they serve up a repeat of their first-leg supremacy in Tuesday’s return at The Emirates.

"Sniggering?" Weren't most people predicting it?
And here's a story out of left field - Aaron Lennon a target for us, and we'll be fighting Liverpool for him:

The Spurs winger has just signed a new deal at White Hart Lane which takes him up to 2014 but the club would be powerless to stop him from moving on if another club were to match their £20million valuation.

United appear to be the favourites to sign the 22-year-old England international, with manager Sir Alex Ferguson fearful that he could lose both Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez at the end of the season, while Ryan Giggs is also heading towards the end of his career.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was interested in signing Lennon in the January transfer window and he could go back for the player as he looks to bolster his squad

No source given for the story...