Football

David de Gea has rejected claims that the dressing room is a tough place

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has rejected claims that the dressing room is a tough place to be due to the recent poor results.

He claimed that the morale within the dressing room is high enough for the club to turn the situation around. United are without a victory in the last five games. They host Norwich City in the league this weekend, but the away team can be expected to get something out of the game at Old Trafford due to the contrasting fortunes. Norwich are on a high after getting points from the likes of Everton and Arsenal in recent weeks.

United, meanwhile, appear to have forgotten the feeling of winning a game. They have found it very hard to score goals. Under the regime of Sir Alex Ferguson, this was one of the main strong points of the team. The defensive tactics of Van Gaal coupled with lack of options up front mean that United are no longer threatening in the attacking side of things. Apart from slipping down the table, United were also recently handed the embarrassment of Europa league football after being knocked out of the champions league by Wolfsburg. Any club that is struggling for results will struggle for morale, but De Gea reckons that this is not the case. (more…)

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Louis van Gaal has confirmed that he is looking for reinforcements at Manchester United

Louis van Gaal has confirmed that he is looking for reinforcements at Manchester United during the January transfer window.

After a fine start to the season, the Red Devils have been struggling of late. Their struggles have especially been profound in attack. Van Gaal was criticised earlier in the season for his failure to bring in strikers to replace the likes of Robin van Persie. Anthony Martial was the only major attacker brought to the club during the summer. The French international, however, was seen as one for the future even at £ 36 million.

As goals from Wayne Rooney have dried up, it is natural that United have struggled to get results. They have been able to get only a handful of good results in the last month and this has seen them slip several points behind table leaders Manchester City. Just two league victories in the last five games is not good enough for a team that wants to win the title. Van Gaal is aware of this aspect, while he is also concerned about the threat from Tottenham. The Dutchman claims that he has always maintained the need for speed and creativity in the wings. Summer signings like Memphis Depay have gone off the boil while surprises like Jesse Lingard have sprung up. (more…)

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North Korea were seen as the least favourites for the East Asian Cup title

North Korea were seen as the least favourites for the East Asian Cup title, but they managed to bring a huge surprise to the party after securing a 2-1 win over initial favourites Japan.

The team managed by Bosnian VahidHalilhodzic was expected to make a huge impact at this tournament, but they have gone home without making any impact whatsoever. Part of this reason was the surprise performance from North Korea. The game between the two ended in a 2-1 victory for Korea DPR, who had to come back from going a goal down.

Prior to this match, North Korea were on a good run of form with the team claiming victories over the likes of Yemen and Uzbekistan in the World Cup qualifying group. This run undoubtedly helped the team get some huge confidence ahead of this game against Japan. However, few would have expected North Korea to rebound very well in the game after conceding to Muto as early as in the third minute.Hyok-CholRi came up with the equaliser in the 78th minute beforeHyon-Il Pak score the unlikely winner with just two minutes of normal time remaining. North Korea held on for a famous victory and they will hope to repeat this astonishing performance when they take on China in the next match. (more…)

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Rio Ferdinand reckons it’s because of the fact that Wayne Rooney started playing upfront again

The former Manchester United player, Rio Ferdinand, reckons it’s because of the fact that Wayne Rooney started playing upfront again, the fortunes of the Red Devils turned around.

The previous United boss David Moyes had deployed Rooney in a deep position in the 2013-14 Season and Louis Van Gaal followed suit when he arrived this summer.

But, having seen Rooney struggling in the midfield, Van Gaal quickly realized it was not the best place for him and he got him back playing in the attacking role.

According to Ferdinand, that decision which Van Gaal made to give Rooney the striker’s position again, it was a fantastic decision and it did United a world of good.

However, Ferdinand did not give all the credit to Rooney only. He had words of praise for some of the other players of the team too especially the defenders.

He pointed out the return of Michael Carrick and also, other factors, but, he  emphasized the point that if Van Gaal had not changed the role of Rooney, the position of United in the Premier League table might not have been as good as it happens to be now. (more…)

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Manchester United will face many Opponenets this Year

Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton are all of the opponents that Manchester United will be facing off starting from March until April of the current year.

As the Premier League is reaching its last few months, the schedule of Manchester United seems to be getting tougher and tougher.

Manchester United sealed their 15th Premier League victory after overcoming Newcastle United with a narrow scoreboard of 1-0. The only goal of the entire match was scored by Ashley Young as the main offensive players of Manchester United continue struggling as they fail on scoring goals.

This victory against Newcastle United was a huge accomplishment for Louis van Gaal and his squad as they once again made an underwhelming performance. Newcastle United created 3 goal-scoring chances but failed on sealing it off and the only goal that Manchester United managed to score arrived due to a horrendous mistake from Tim Krul as it led to Ashley Young firing with a simple close range effort. (more…)

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Louis Van Gaal unhappy from Team after Match against Tottenham

Manchester United boss Louis Van Gaal was unhappy with the way his team failed to convert several great chances against Tottenham in the match at White Hart Lane.

United created several great opportunities, especially in the first half, but the likes of Wayne Rooney and van Persie were guilty of some poor finishing when they normally put the ball in the back of the net. Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was also in impeccable form. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, but it was not because of the lack of chances created. Van Gaal says that it is imperative that players have a high conversion ratio in order to win matches against the top six teams. (more…)

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