Watch: Manchester United 2 - 0 Arsenal

It was a great Manchester United performance with some fantastic individual performances as well as a very positive team performance which saw the return of Valencia.

My Match Report Here:

Watch the win here:

United 1 - 0 Arsenal
Fabio Goal



United 2 - 0 Arsenal
Rooney

Aston Villa's New Manager interested in Owen

As Gerard Houllier settles in at Aston Villa next week, he will look at his squad and decide where he can improve it to challenge for a Champions League spot or some silverware.

However, he has already confirmed an interest with one of his former Liverpool players, Michael Owen. The striker, who is currently playing for Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, has been the subject of Houllier's attention for some time it seems.
Houllier explained:

"He has always been in my thoughts. I like him [Owen], as a player and a man"

The Frenchman said that he watched Owen at Jamie Carragher's testimonial and that Owen still has the legs for playing football.

Only recently, Owen was quoted saying that he has been trying as hard as ever to try and grab a first team spot at Manchester United, but he never knows when he will be picked.

"You can only do your best and prepare and train well, so that you are ready when the manager calls on you. After that, it's up to the manager who he chooses. It sounds easy, but probably the most difficult thing is not playing for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden getting called up and being mentally and physically right to perform well"

Owen seems frustrated, as any footballer would be, because he isn't getting the game time that he would like. Added to this, it looks as if Dimitar Berbatov has hit good form at last for United, and with Rooney almost guaranteed a starting spot it will be even harder for Owen to force his way into the team - allowing Aston Villa to make their move and offer Owen more oppurtunities to play, as well as re-unite with Emile Heskey.

Ferguson has no regrets, But Moyes does.

Sir Alex Ferguson has said today that he has no regrets about leaving Wayne Rooney out of the Manchester United side that played Everton on Saturday, in which United threw away a 3-1 advantage to draw 3-3 in the final minutes.

 I have no regrets - I did the right thing. And I have no concerns about playing him tomorrow [against Rangers] at all.

Why should he have regrets? He left Rooney out, and with good reason. It would have been a big risk playing Rooney with him either rising to the occasion, or doing completely the opposite and buckling under the pressure in front of his heckling former fans and do something stupid. It wasn't a risk worth taking and Ferguson knew it. He made sure nothing controversial would happen by not naming him in the squad against bitter fans who hate Rooney whatever he does.
Ferguson also proved that Rooney can be left out of the squad, and Manchester United still score goals. Three goals against Everton is a very good total, as they have (most of the time) confident, solid defenders as well as an experienced midfield. Relatively new England defensive rock Jagielka along with Distin, in front of the former Manchester United keeper Tim Howard, who made some fantastic stops to save his team from losing are usually tough to crack, but United banged in three passed them through Fletcher, Vidic (both from crosses) and Berbatov - thanks to another marvellous pass from Paul Scholes.

Three goals without your top striker isn't half bad is it?

Now to Moyes. Fuelled with enormous amounts of adrenaline as his eyes popped out of his head (yes, even more) watching his side blast two goals in the final few minutes of the game against United, he raced onto the pitch as the referee, Martin Atkinson blew the whistle just as Everton burst into the United penalty area on the attack, looking for the winning goal. Along with his assistant Steve Round,

shouting all sorts of abuse at the referee,  they went a bit over the top, and Martin Atkinson remembered the gist of what they were saying (or bawling) at him, and recorded it in his report of the match.

FA Chiefs have since decided to punish Moyes and his sidekick with improper conduct and fine them both £8000.

The Scottish Moyes may or may not (probably not) be cheered up by the fact that Manchester United play the Scottish side Rangers on Tuesday where Rooney will play - fit and raring to go after a weeks rest and give a mind blowing performance to win his fans back after a terrible few weeks in his personal -
but quite public private life

Rooney Scandal

On the Birth of his son - 2 November 2009:

Now I have someone to look after and I just want to be with Kai and Coleen as much as possible. Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to.

A few days later, Coleen Rooney said:

I'm hoping he will grow up to have Wayne's temperament.

Little did she know that only a few months earlier, her husband had been cheating on her, if we are to believe the newspapers have reported.
It's a sad situation for many. His wife, his fans, Manchester United and probably himself. He will be ashamed of what he reportedly did and will regret it enormously. The revelations could destroy not only his marriage to Coleen, who he met when both were still in school, but his career.

Taunts that he looks like Disney character Shrek, will be much worse to say the least, and multi-million pound sponsor-ship deals could be thrown out of the window as he has failed to uphold a family-man image and reputation of which the deals require.

His Manchester United manager will not be pleased either. Sir Alex has spent a lot of time and effort trying to drill into his young players lessons on the need for discipline, on and off the pitch. In addition, Ferguson has always supported Rooney when he has been going through rough patches in his career, after all, he is United's star striker, but it will take a lot of arduous talks with his manager, known for his bad temper and hot head to gain the Scots forgivness and apologise.

You may say that it is his personal life, and people shouldn't be poking around in it, but surely he musn't have thought that with the media as it is and newspapers always hungry for an "Exclusive" report, he could get away with it? And the girl? He couldn't have thought (and/or hoped) that she would stay quiet about it, when she could easily sell her story.

I really liked Rooney - as a player, and although I hope the stories aren't true, I know that they most probably are. Unfortunatley after this, you can't help but lose a lot of respect for him - as a person.