Tag Archives: manchester united

On this day – 1 February 2006

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On 1 February 2006, Blackburn winger David Bentley scored the first Premier League hat-trick against Manchester United as Rovers won 4-3.

The match was Bentley’s first as an official Blackburn player–he signed with them the day before after spending the first half of the season with them on loan from Arsenal. Playing at home before a crowd of 25,484, he celebrated the move by putting Rovers ahead in the 35th minute, finishing off a free kick that United keeper Edwin van der Sar tipped onto the bar.

United striker Louis Saha returned the favor in the 37th minute, but a poor clearance from Rio Ferdinand allowed Bentley to double his tally four minutes later. Rovers extended the lead to 3-1 before the break when Lucas Neill converted a 45th-minute penalty kick. Then, in the 56th minute, Robbie Savage found Bentley unmarked in the United box; the winger took the chance, claiming the first hat-trick against United since QPR’s David Bailey did it in January 1992 when the top flight was still called Division One.

United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had come on as a second-half substitute, scored a brace of his own in the 63rd and 68th minutes, but the rally ended when referee Phil Dowd sent Ferdinand off in the 88th minute–Ferdinand’s first career red card, earned by having drawn a second yellow card for a challenge on Savage that left the Welshman with a gash on his shin.

The win completed a Blackburn double over United that season, which ended with Rovers in sixth place and United in second. Bentley left Blackburn for Tottenham in 2008 and is currently on loan with Birmingham.

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The new ‘tinker man’?

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Maybe he’s mellowing in his old age, or merely becoming a little more scrambled, but neither fits, really, as a plausible reason for Sir Alex Ferguson’s compulsion to tinker with his team.

Last night’s Champions League game against Valencia was the 150th successive game in which he has made changes to the starting line up, to surely set some sort of magnificently schizophrenic record.

The Manchester United manager is the ultimate football pragmatist though, as his enduring tenure at the top illustrates, and there will always be a method in his apparent madness, no matter how unconventional.

This season has seen him ever more frenetic in his changes, and ever more bullish in his explanations for them. Yet the simple truth behind them probably lies in the wily campaigner’s creeping contempt for the standard of opposition his side faces in the early part of the season.

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Pressure off Avram Grant temporarily as West Ham thrash Man Utd for Carling Cup semi final place

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While Manchester United fans may argue that Sir Alex Ferguson deliberately picked a weakened team to take on West Ham in the Carling Cup quarter final game at Upton Park last night, we all know that Ferguson put out a team that he thought were capable of getting a result against the Hammers, something they failed to even come close to.

There will be those too who dismiss the Carling Cup as a Mickey Mouse trophy, but memories are sometimes short when it suits in football, especially given the significance of being the only trophy in the cabinet from last season at Old Trafford.

No, there is nothing anyone can say that will change my view that United went into last night’s game expecting to win and we should take our hats off to West Ham who simply wanted it more than their illustrious opponents, on the night.

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Botched Comeback Rules Owen Hargreaves Out For Another Five Weeks

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The sky is still blue, the earth is still round, water is still wet and Manchester United have confirmed that Owen Hargreaves will face another five weeks on the sidelines after pulling up with a hamstring injury just six minutes into their game with Wolves on Saturday – his first appearance for the club in two years.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed to Key 103 Radio that Hargreaves will now be out until mid-December thus definitely missing the Manchester derby on Wednesday, but he may still be able to play a part in the club’s Christmas schedule:

“We were at the stage where we knew Owen’s knee was okay. His training performances for eight or nine days previously had been terrific.

“He had done really well, which is why we took the chance. But maybe the tension in the build-up for the lad was too much and he suffered because of it.”

Ferguson also revealed that veteran winger Ryan Giggs is also set to miss the derby with City tomorrow night due to the hamstring injury that has kept out of eight of United’s last nine games.

Portuguese forward Nani is also a doubt after pulling his groin against Bursaspor in the Champions League last week.

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Chelsea chairman Buck backing salary cap idea

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The issue of wage increases has been brought into the spotlight once again by the news that Wayne Rooney has signed a vastly-improved contract at Manchester United, having agitated for a move away from Old Trafford.

It was Chelsea who famously stimulated the market following Roman Abramovich’s arrival in 2003, a role now undertaken by Manchester City, but the Blues are attempting to balance the books at Stamford Bridge and cut a number of players from the wage bill this summer.

With UEFA implementing Financial Fair Play rules from the 2013-14 season, Buck says Chelsea would support a salary cap, but only if it was enforceable the world over.

“We would seriously consider a wage cap. It has to be properly implemented,” Buck told the Sunday Times. “I’m not even sure that Europe-wide is enough. Look what happened with cricket and the IPL (Indian Premier League): the best players are going to go where theycan make the most money.

“We have many of the best players in England and we do not want to see them go elsewhere.”

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