Saha believes Nistelrooy`s departure weakened team

Saha is convinced the Dutchman's departure for Real Madrid is a bad thing for United - even if it has given him the first-team chances he had lacked since arriving from Fulham in January 2004.

"When you lose a player capable of scoring 40 goals in one season, I don't think that giving him to Real Madrid is a good thing, considering we will face them at one point or another," said Saha.

"It is true that his departure will certainly allow me to play a little bit more and I take Sir Alex Ferguson's trust as a compliment, but I have always done my best whether Ruud is there or not. Nothing has changed for me."

Van Nistelrooy was gradually phased out of Ferguson's starting XI following Saha's dazzling return after enduring a lengthy absence because of a right-knee injury.

"Things can go very fast, if I am not good enough someone else will take my place," added the 28-year-old, who has two goals in three league games this season.

"If I am good I try to hold on to my status and work hard. Competition makes you progress, always."

van der Sar wants another 2 seasons at Old Trafford

The giant Dutchman is currently in the final year of his contract, although Sir Alex Ferguson has already stated his intention to offer him a new one in the summer.

And the 35-year-old is not entirely ruling out the possibility of playing beyond that having made such a huge impact in his first season at Old Trafford following his move from Fulham.

"I don't know how long I will continue but it should be at least another two years," he said.

"That is the aim and we will see what happens after that.

"I am enjoying myself in Manchester. Things are going well and I am happy, so there is no reason to think about anything else."

Ferdinand Probably Not Broken His Toe

Rio Ferdinand will have an injury to his little toe reassessed on Monday, but he has not yet been withdrawn from the England squad to play Andorra on Saturday and travel to Macedonia the following Wednesday.

Ferdinand injured the little toe of his right foot during United's 2-1 win at on Saturday against Watford.

Watford the latest victims

Watford`s tactics of playing the long ball game didn`t stop United beating them by 2 goals to 1. Those goals were courtesy of Silvestre and Giggs and keeps United at the top of the Premiership.

Hopefully they`ll be able to keep a 100% record in time for the return of Scholes and Rooney following their 3 match suspensions.

Darrell Hair offered to resign for money

Further to the ongoing Pakistan ball tampering row, its emerged that one of the umpires at the centre of the storm offered to resign for money.

International Cricket Committee chief executive Malcolm Speed today revealed Australian umpire Darrell Hair offered to resign following the ball-tampering affair this week in exchange for "a payment of US dollars 500,000".

Hair was the umpire who accused Pakistan captain Inzaman ul-Haq of ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute in the fourth Test against England at The Oval last Sunday.
Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove first penalised Pakistan five runs for ball-tampering and then judged they had forfeited the match by failing to halt a sit-in protest when play was due to resume.

Charlton well beaten by Reds

Fantastic match last night with Charlton keeping up their long record of losing to Manchester United at home.

3 goals brought misery to Charlton under their new Manager Ian Dowie. Fletcher, Saha, and the one which brought most cheers, from Solsjkaer, were the goals which put United in top spot.

Is Keane the new Sunderland Manager?

It looks like Sunderland`s new manager is set to be Roy Keane. That`ll be sure to please the Sunderland fans. Although new to managing of course, Keane`s commitment is without question.

Pakistan captain charged in ball dispute

A slight diversion away from football on to cricket which has been ravaged lately by the alleged ball tampering incident which resulted in the match being concluded early and the Pakistan team forfeiting the match to England.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan cricket captain, has been charged with bringing the game into disrepute and changing the condition of the ball following his side’s forfeit of the final Test match against England at the Oval in London.

Inzamam will face a disciplinary hearing on Friday convened by the International Cricket Council, the sport’s worldwide governing body. If found guilty, he could face a suspension from future matches on the current tour and be docked his match fee.

At a news conference in London on Monday, Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, called for an independent inquiry into the affair and for a change in the rules for any team accused by an umpire of ball-tampering. He believed the lack of cricket on Monday was down to “miscommunication” between the umpires and his team.

“We feel the forfeit was avoidable if there had been a little bit of flexibility,” he said. “There was a miscommunication with the umpires, because once the protest had been made the team wanted to play and it was only a matter of half a minute.

“My team also deeply regret the way the ball-tampering issue was handled. We felt it was a slur on the reputation of the Pakistan team. There should definitely be a change in protocol because it is highly inflammatory for an umpire to state a team has been cheating.”

Where does cricket go from here? In the immediate future a question must hang over the upcoming one day series due to start shortly.

United Thrash Fulham 5-1

Manchester United started off their campaign in the new season with a humbling of the London team, Fulham - 5 goals to 1.

75,115 saw United ravage the opposition. After just 7 minutes Saha headed home his goal after a pass from Ryan Giggs. On 13 minutes Saha crossed and Rooney put Pearce under pressure. Pearce scored an own goal, putting the Reds 2-0 up.

2 minutes later Rooney scored after Saha`s shot rebounded off the Fulham goalkeeper. 3-0 up then in the first 15 minutes.

Ronaldo made it 4 on 18 minutes after a Rooney pass to him, and it was a well taken kick by the Portugese International.

Three substitutions by United in the 2nd half didn`t stop them playing fluent football, however. The Fulham goal came when Helguson`s shot deflected off Rio Ferdinand and van der Sar couldn`t prevent the goal.

Rooney wrapped things up on the 63rd minute with his 2nd goal of the afternoon. A good day at the office for United.

Sir Alex Unimpressed By Rooney Ban

Alex Ferguson isn`t too impressed with the 3 match ban handed out by the F.A. to Wayne Rooney.

"I am not so much disappointed as surprised," Ferguson said Friday. "The FA told us nothing was going to happen to Wayne and they were actually briefing people the same thing. I do not know what has happened inbetween them telling us that and reaching the decision."

Three years ago, the FA decided to not carry over a three-match ban into the English league when Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Neil Mellor were sent off in the same preseason tournament.

Ferguson blamed referee Ruud Bossen for reporting the red cards to the Dutch soccer association and the FA for following it up.

"In these situations it is down to the referee. You hope common sense is going to prevail," Ferguson said. "Instead he has reported it, then it has gone through the official channels and the FA have decided to take it up.

"We have the players to cover and there is nothing we can do about it now but one thing is for sure, we will not be playing in the Amsterdam tournament again. You can bet your life on that."

Villarreal Tired Of Waiting - Senna Stays Put!

Villarreal have stated that Marcos Senna will not be joining Manchester United as the Spanish side have lost patience with The Red Devils' after their lengthy pursuit of the World Cup midfielder.

United had been chasing the 30-year-old for a large portion of the summer but never managed to close a deal, and now the Spanish side have ended negotiations with Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

Senna`s Agent Gives United Deal Deadline

Marcos Senna's agent has given Manchester United a deadline of Friday to finalise the transfer of his player otherwise the deal is likely to fall through.

The Villarreal midfield man has been a long-term target of United, but protracted negotiations have failed to broker a deal. It seems though that Senna himself is losing patience with United, even though Ferguson wants him to join the club.

It could hinge on the money being made available by the owners of M.U., or of course the situation with Owen Hargreaves reaching some sort of conclusion.

Hargreaves Not For Sale

Although Owen Hargreaves claimed earlier this week he was as close to completing a move to the Premiership than he had ever been, Bayren Munich have made it clear they are not interested in selling him.

Hargreaves only recently signed a lucrative contract extension with Bayern Munich but has never made any secret of the fact he would like join an English club at some stage in his career.

However, it is now reported Sir Alex Ferguson has made a move for the Canadian-born midfielder, who has spent all his professional career with Bayern.

Rooney & Scholes Receive 3-Match Bans

The Old Trafford club were staggered to learn on Tuesday that both Rooney and Scholes must sit out the Premiership encounters with and Watford and Charlton later this month, plus the September 9 game against Spurs with as a result of their respective dismissals in the pre-season win over Porto in Amsterdam earlier this month.

It had been anticipated Rooney, at least, would be spared punishment by the independent three-man tribunal set up by the Football Association to hear United's appeal against the punishment.

Contract Extensions

Park Ji-sung has extended his contract to 2010, and Mikael Silvestre signed his contract extension with United until 2009.

David Beckham Dropped From England Squad

Real Madrid and ex-United star David Beckham has been dropped from the England line-up.

Beckham was left out of coach Steve McClaren's first England squad, raising speculation that his international career may be over. Beckham isn`t in the list of 25 for next week`s friendly against Greece.

Will Beckham now add to his 94 caps? It`d be a shame if he didn`t reach his 100 and join only 4 others who have ever achieved that. At 31 years of age it all might be too late now for the ex-England captain, who captained England 59 times.

Season Ticket Sales Hits 64,000

Many critics will be surprised to learn that United have sold 64,000 season tickets, including executive areas. Capacity at Old Trafford now stands at 76,000 with new parts of the stadium being opened up.

Tomasz Kuszcak Joins United

Polish international goalkeeper Toamsz Kuszcak has joined the Reds from West Brom. Kuszcak will of course be behind Edwin van der Sar in the pecking order, but with van der Sar probably looking to retirement, probably in around 2 years time, Kuszcak will be the man to replace him.

Inter Deny United Interest In Adriano

Inter Milan say they've had no offer yet from Manchester United for Brazil striker Adriano.

Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly still looking to sign a top-class striker to replace the departed Ruud van Nistelrooy, who moved to Real Madrid. Suggestions have been made that he`ll pay around £30million for the Brazilian striker.

Inter chief Massimo Moratti says he's had no contact from England, and isn't looking to offload anybody at present. Inter have already strengthened their squad by signing Crespo on loan from Chelsea.

England Beat Pakistan in 3rd Test

England beat Pakistan by 167 runs to win its first home series against the tourists in six attempts since 1982. Set a target of 323 on the final day of the third test Tuesday at Headingley, Pakistan was 155 all out before tea. Resuming the day on 0-0 after playing one over of its second innings Monday, Pakistan was reduced to 84-5 by lunch and to 113-7 within eight balls of the break. Inzamam-ul-Haq was last man out when he was stumped by wicketkeeper Chris Read off the bowling of spinner Monty Panesar, who finished with figures of 3-39. Danish Kaneria finished 0 not out as England bowler Sajid Mahmood took his best-ever figures of 4-22, including two in one over. Pakistan lost openers Salman Butt (16) and Umar Taufeeq (11) before Mohammad Yousuf (8) by the 21st over. Mahmood then took the wickets of Faisal Iqbal (11) and Akmal (0) in three balls for no runs. Butt only made it 10 overs on Tuesday, hitting four boundaries before edging Matthew Hoggard to Marcus Trescothick at first slip to leave Pakistan on 23-1. Taufeeq was out sweeping a Panesar delivery to Alastair Cook. With Pakistan on 52-1, Younis Khan was joined by Yousuf at the crease. In the first innings, the pair had put on a 363-run third-wicket stand - with Yousuf contributing 192 runs - for the fifth-highest partnership ever against England. They only combined for 16 on Tuesday. Yousuf was run out while taking a single, with Paul Collingwood diving to hit the stumps after Khan had played Mahmood to point. With Pakistan on 80-4, Iqbal was caught behind off Mahmood after hitting it leg side. Akmal then edged the ball for an easier catch for Read. Panesar removed Khan with a delivery that turned to hit the offside of the stumps. Khan's replacement, Mohammad Sami, faced three balls without scoring before pushing the ball into cover, then falling short when Kevin Pietersen ran him out. Only one team has ever scored more than 300 runs in the final innings to win a test match at Headingley, and that was Australia's 1948 'Invincibles' side featuring Don Bradman. On Monday, England captain Andrew Strauss hit 116, which along with Read's 55-runs in marshaling the England tail, helped the home side to 345 all out in its second innings. The final test is at the Oval on Aug. 17-21. LEEDS, England England beat Pakistan by 167 runs to win its first home series against the tourists in six attempts since 1982. Set a target of 323 on the final day of the third test Tuesday at Headingley, Pakistan was 155 all out before tea. Resuming the day on 0-0 after playing one over of its second innings Monday, Pakistan was reduced to 84-5 by lunch and to 113-7 within eight balls of the break. Inzamam-ul-Haq was last man out when he was stumped by wicketkeeper Chris Read off the bowling of spinner Monty Panesar, who finished with figures of 3-39. Danish Kaneria finished 0 not out as England bowler Sajid Mahmood took his best-ever figures of 4-22, including two in one over. Pakistan lost openers Salman Butt (16) and Umar Taufeeq (11) before Mohammad Yousuf (8) by the 21st over. Mahmood then took the wickets of Faisal Iqbal (11) and Akmal (0) in three balls for no runs. Butt only made it 10 overs on Tuesday, hitting four boundaries before edging Matthew Hoggard to Marcus Trescothick at first slip to leave Pakistan on 23-1. Taufeeq was out sweeping a Panesar delivery to Alastair Cook. With Pakistan on 52-1, Younis Khan was joined by Yousuf at the crease. In the first innings, the pair had put on a 363-run third-wicket stand - with Yousuf contributing 192 runs - for the fifth-highest partnership ever against England. They only combined for 16 on Tuesday. Yousuf was run out while taking a single, with Paul Collingwood diving to hit the stumps after Khan had played Mahmood to point. With Pakistan on 80-4, Iqbal was caught behind off Mahmood after hitting it leg side. Akmal then edged the ball for an easier catch for Read. Panesar removed Khan with a delivery that turned to hit the offside of the stumps. Khan's replacement, Mohammad Sami, faced three balls without scoring before pushing the ball into cover, then falling short when Kevin Pietersen ran him out. Only one team has ever scored more than 300 runs in the final innings to win a test match at Headingley, and that was Australia's 1948 'Invincibles' side featuring Don Bradman. On Monday, England captain Andrew Strauss hit 116, which along with Read's 55-runs in marshaling the England tail, helped the home side to 345 all out in its second innings. The final test is at the Oval on Aug. 17-21.

Giggs Says All Team Need To Fill Ruud`s Void

Wales and Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs says the goalscoring void left by the departure of Ruud van Nistelrooy should be filled by all the team mates and not left to just one man.

Ruud scored 150 goals in five seasons, so there certainly is a massive void left, lets just hope the decision to allow him to leave doesn't come back to haunt us.

Giggs said: 'When we were successful and winning leagues everyone contributed to the goalscoring part. We didn't just rely on one person. Obviously Ruud scored a lot of goals for us but this season, I will have to chip in, Paul Scholes will have to chip in and so will everyone else. We also need to score more from set pieces because they can win you games. Who gets the goals does not really matter providing we are getting the results.'

Giggs put his words into action when he scored from a free-kick against Ajax in this weekends friendly.

United Rumoured To Be After One Of Three Strikers

Following the sale of Ruud van Nistelrooy, United are being strongly linked with a move for one of three strikers.

Fernando Torres is allegedly still the subject of interest from United and Chelsea despite insisting that he will stay in Spain for another season.

Two new names thrown into the ring by the rumour-mongers are that of Argentine hot property Carlos Tevez and Dirk Kuyt, van Nistelrooy's international heir-apparent.

Tevez is tipped to leave Corinthians following a spat with the club's fans, while Kuyt is now being linked with United after a summer of stories mooting a move to Liverpool.

Despite the sale of van Nistelrooy, however, another midfielder is also a priority for Sir Alex Ferguson following the arrival of Michael Carrick. Villarreal's Marcos Senna is the name most frequently linked, with talks allegedly underway to secure a switch to United.

Bobby Robson In Hospital

IPSWICH, England (AP) - Former England manager Bobby Robson was admitted to a hospital Saturday.

The 73-year-old Robson, who was at Portman Road to receive an honorary award from Ipswich, left 10 minutes into Crystal Palace's 2-1 win. It was unclear what was wrong with him.

"He was attended by the club doctor and, as a precaution, was transferred to Ipswich hospital," Ipswich said in a statement.

Robson has had successful surgeries for colon cancer and a malignant melanoma on his face in the past. The latter operation in 1995 cost him his upper teeth and left him with an internal plastic frame holding his face in place.

After having a tumor removed from his lung in May, it emerged he had more cancer, though it is now in remission.

Robson is one of the legendary survivors of international soccer. He played 584 matches for English clubs Fulham and West Bromwich Albion, then began a managerial odyssey that took him through Canada, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Though he started his managerial career at Fulham in 1968, Robson made his name Ipswich, where he captured FA Cup and UEFA Cup trophies in his 13 years in charge.

He succeeded Ron Greenwood as England coach in 1982, guiding England to the 1986 and 1990 World Cups.

He held managing spells at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto, and FC Barcelona, where current Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho worked as his translator.

Robson managed at Newcastle from 1999-2004, where he guided his native Magpies from a relegation battle to near the pinnacle of English soccer: an FA Cup semifinal, a third-place place in the Premiership, the second phase of the Champions League and the last four of the UEFA Cup.

He is currently working as an assistant manager with Ireland.

Amsterdam Tournament Win By United

A Ryan Giggs free kick gave United a 1-0 victory over Ajax to give them the Amsterdam Tournament.

Michael Carrick suffers an ankle injury in the match and is expected to be out for 3 weeks. That means he`ll miss the 1st 2/3 matches at the start of the new season.

Although the referee reported the red cards against Rooney and Scholes to the Dutch F.A. it appears that the English F.A have commented that they won`t be imposing a ban on Rooney.

Porto Beaten By United 3 - 1

In the Amsterdam Cup Manchester United have just beaten Porto 3-1.

Rooney was red-carded at the end of the 1st half, and not long in to the 2nd half Scholes was given a red card (or 2nd yellow) for a foul from behind. The 1st sending off was controversial as Rooney looked bemused at his marching orders. Scholes`s however was fully justified.

Pity about Scholes, he`d only just been handed the captain`s armband by Giggs when Giggs was substituted.

Fergie Losing His Way

After what`s gone on over the past couple of seasons I have to say I agree with the comments of a number of United fans.

Fergie should have gone soon after announcing his retirement originally. His tactics have often led to us dropping points, resulting in draws or losses. Leaving the better players on the bench during a match for instance, then only bringing them on when we needed to score. Often that didn`t work, it was too late, and we ended up losing the match. Far better to put your strongest players on from the beginning then once we are up and comfortable then start taking players off and replacing them with less experienced ones. That happened time and time again but Fergie continued with it resulting in far too many dropped points.

I doubt Ronaldo has too may fans, even amongst United supporters. His diving tactics we can to a certain extent live with, but, dissing a fellow player like he did with Rooney in the World Cup is beyond belief. To my mind Fergie should have let him go, (let`s face it Ronaldo doen`t want to play for us now anyway, his heart won`t be in it.) van Nistelrooy should have stayed. Where else are we going to get a striker who is a 20 plus a season goal scorer? Not from the present United ranks I fear, young or old. I suspect all this will end up biting Fergie where it hurts by the end of the season. He`s lost his way, and I don`t say that lightly considering his fantastic achieven ments for the club over the years.

Ronaldo Not Going To Amsterdam Cup

Ronaldo isn`t going to the Amsterdam Cup this weekend. Apparently he needs to work on his fitness.

Vieira headed for Inter

It looks like United will miss out on signing Vieira. He`s set to join Inter Milan for a fee of around £6.5 million later this week. The deal had stalled, but it`s back on again.

Ah well, c`est la vie!

What a mess!

Hours after it was revealed that Multiplex will miss another deadline in the construction of London's new Wembley Stadium, the Australian building firm said it did not expect the venue to host a major event for almost 12 months.
Stadium owner WNSL said on Monday said the September deadline for completion of the redevelopment could not be met and blamed Multiplex for the delays.
Mutliplex responded Tuesday by saying that the works were "substantially complete'' but the 90,000-seat, 757-million-pound venue would not be ready to host a major sports event until WNSL had staged a series of test events to obtain the required approvals.

It seems now that there may be legal action over costs due to time delays.

Feyenoord Striker Kuyt Next?

Reports suggest Manchester United will bid for the Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt is a target for Liverpool, but it seems they don`t want to meet the £12 million price tag.

Vieira For United?

Former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira has hinted that he could leave Juventus for Manchester United, who are thought to be keen to further bolster their midfield options despite signing Michael Carrick from Tottenham Hotspur for £18.6 million.
Juve have been relegated to Serie B following the Italian match-fixing scandal and Vieira is desperate to join the exodus from the Turin giants which has already seen Emerson and Fabio Cannavaro leave for Real Madrid and Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram join Barcelona.
The 30-year-old France midfielder had been linked with Inter Milan, but with that appearing to have stalled a return to the Premiership is looking more likely.
Vieira said: "Every player wants to play for a club like Manchester United at the highest level. After nine years at Arsenal it might be difficult. But anything can happen in football.
"Now I'm not sure where I'm playing next season, I'm still looking for a new club. There might be some sort of conclusion in the next 48 hours and it's a very important decision for me. I will not be playing for Juventus since they are going to Serie B."